SA,TA 


JAMES   BOSWELL,  ESQ., 
Of  Aiichmkck. 


After  the  painting  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 


''      Bo  SWELL'S 

Life  of  Johnson 


IiVCLUDiyO  BOSW ELL'S  JOURNAL  OF  A   TOUR  TO  THE  HEBRIDES 
AND  JOHNSON'S  DIARY  OF  A   JOURNEY  INTO  NORTH  tYALES 


EDITED   BY 


GEORGE  BIRKBECK  HILL,  D.C.L. 

PEMBROKE  COLLEGE,  OXFORD 


/AT  SIX  VOLUMES 
VOLUiME    I.— LIFE  (1709-1765) 


BIGELOW,  BROWN  &  CO.,  Inc. 
NE^^'  YORK 


THE    COLONIAL    PHESS 
C.   H.  SIMONDS    CO.,     BOSTON,    U.   8.   Ao 


[TitU^ge  to  the  Third  Editioa.] 
THE 

LIFE 

OF 

SAMUEL    JOHNSON,    LL.D. 

COMPREHENDING 

AN    ACCOUNT   OF    HIS   STUDIES 
AND    NUMEROUS   WORKS, 

IN  CHRONOLOGICAL  ORDER; 

A  SERIES  OF  HIS  EPISTOLARY  CORRESPONDENCE 
AND  CONVERSATIONS  WITH  MANY  EMINENT  PERSONS  ; 


VARIOUS  ORIGINAL  PIECES  OF  HIS  COMPOSITION, 
NEVER  BEFORE  PUBLISHED: 

THE  WHOLE  EXHIBITING  A  VIEW  OF  LITERATURE  AND 

LITERARY  MEN  IN  GREAT-BRITAIN,  FOR  NEAR 

HALF  A  CENTURY,  DURING  WHICH 

HE  FLOURISHED. 

By   JAMES  BOSIVELL,  Esq. 

Quo  fit  lit  OMNIS 


Votiva  fateat  vehiti  descripta  tabella 
Vita  senis. 

HORAT. 

THE  THIRD  EDITION,  REVISED  AND  AUGMENTED, 
IN  FOUR  VOLUMES. 

LONDON: 

PRINTED   BY   H.  BALDWIN   AND  SON, 

FOR  CHARLES  DILLY,  IN  THE  POULTRY. 


MDCCXCIX. 


u  ::^^^^\  - 

l^of ••••' 

I    I    /  TO 

THE    REVEREND   BENJAMIN    JOWETT,  M.A. 

MASTER   OF   BALLIOL   COLLEGE 

REGIUS  PROFESSOR  OF  GREEK  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  OXFORD 

HONORARY  LL.D.  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  EDINBURGH 

HONORARY  D.D.  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  LEYDEN 

WHO  IS     NOT  ONLY 

•AN  ACUTE  AND  KNOWING  CRITIC 

BUT  ALSO 

•  JOHNSONI ANISSIMUS  * 

IN   GRATEFUL   ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

OF  THE 

KINDLY  INTEREST  THAT  HE   HAS  THROUGHOUT  TAKEN 

IN   THE   PROGRESS   OF   THIS   WORK 

THIS   EDITION 

OF 

BOSWELL'S   LIFE  OF  JOHNSON 
3s  IDebicaUb 


rAGB 

I 

5 
II 

17 


CONTENTS    OF  VOL.  I. 

Dedication  to  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 

Advertisement  to  the  First  Edition 

Advertisement  to  the  Second  Edition  . 

Advertisement  to  the  Third  Edition     . 

Chronological  Catalogue  of  the  Prose  Works  of 

Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D 19 

Life  of  Samuel  Johnson  (Sept.  18,  1709 — October  1765)  29-579 
Appendices 

A.  Johnson's  Debates  in  Parliament        ...        581 

B.  Johnson's    Letters    to   his   Mother    and   Miss 

Porter  in  1759 594 

C.  Johnson  at  Cambridge 599 

D.  Johnson's  Letter  to  Dr.  Leland  ....        600 

E.  Johnson's  '  Engaging  in  Politicks  with  H n  '        601 

F.  Johnson's  first  acquaintance  with  the  Thrales 

and  his  serious  Illness 603 


PREFACE. 


Fielding,  it  is  said,  drank  confusion  to  the  man  who 
invented  the  fifth  act  of  a  play.  He  who  has  edited  an  ex- 
tensive work,  and  has  concluded  his  labours  by  the  prepara- 
tion of  a  copious  index,  might  well  be  pardoned,  if  he  omitted 
to  include  the  inventor  of  the  Preface  among  the  benefactors 
of  mankind.  The  long  and  arduous  task  that  years  before 
he  had  set  himself  to  do  is  done,  and  the  last  thing  that  he 
desires  is  to  talk  about  it.  Liberty  is  what  he  asks  for, 
liberty  to  range  for  a  time  wherever  he  pleases  in  the  wide 
and  fair  fields  of  literature.  Yet  with  this  longing  for  free- 
dom comes  a  touch  of  regret  and  a  doubt  lest  the  '  fresh 
woods  and  pastures  new  '  may  never  wear  the  friendly  and 
familiar  face  of  the  plot  of  ground  within  whose  narrower 
confines  he  has  so  long  been  labouring,  and  whose  every 
corner  he  knows  so  well.  May- be  he  finds  hope  in  the 
thought  that  should  his  new  world  seem  strange  to  him  and 
uncomfortable,  ere  long  he  may  be  called  back  to  his  old 
task,  and  in  the  preparation  of  a  second  edition  find  the 
quiet  and  the  peace  of  mind  that  are  often  found  alone  in 
*  old  use  and  wont.' 

With  me  the  preparation  of  these  volumes  has,  indeed, 
been  the  work  of  many  years.  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson  I 
read  for  the  first  time  in  my  boyhood,  when  I  was  too  young 
f6r  it  to  lay  any  hold  on  me.  When  I  entered  Pembroke 
College,  Oxford,  though  I  loved  to  think  that  Johnson  had 

been 


xii  Preface. 

been  there  before  me,  yet  I  cannot  call  to  mind  that  I  ever 
opened  the  pages  of  Boswell.  By  a  happy  chance  I  was 
turned  to  the  study  of  the  literature  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. Every  week  we  were  required  by  the  rules  of  the 
College  to  turn  into  Latin,  or  what  we  called  Latin,  a  pas- 
sage from  The  Spectator.  Many  a  happy  minute  slipped  by 
while,  in  forgetfulness  of  my  task,  I  read  on  and  on  in  its 
enchanting  pages.  It  was  always  with  a  sigh  that  at  last  I 
tore  myself  away,  and  sat  resolutely  down  to  write  bad  Latin 
instead  of  reading  good  English.  I'^rom  Addison  in  the 
course  of  time  I  passed  on  to  the  other  great  writers  of  his 
and  the  succeeding  age,  finding  in  their  exquisitely  clear 
style,  their  admirable  common  sense  and  their  freedom  from 
all  the  tricks  of  affectation,  a  delightful  contrast  to  so  many 
of  the  eminent  authors  of  our  own  time.  Those  trouble- 
some doubts,  doubts  of  all  kinds,  which  since  the  great 
upheaval  of  the  French  Revolution  have  harassed  mankind, 
had  scarcely  begun  to  ruffle  the  waters  of  their  life.  Even 
Johnson's  troubled  mind  enjoyed  vast  levels  of  repose.  The 
unknown  world  alone  was  wrapped  in  stormy  gloom ;  of  this 
world  '  all  the  complaints  which  were  made  were  unjust '.' 
Though  I  was  now  familiar  with  many  of  the  great  writers, 
yet  Boswell  I  had  scarcely  opened  since  my  boyhood.  A 
happy  day  came  just  eighteen  years  ago  when  in  an  old 
book-shop,  almost  under  the  shadow  of  a  great  cathedral,  I 
bought  a  second-hand  copy  of  a  somewhat  early  edition  of 
the  Life  in  five  well-bound  volumes.  Of  all  my  books  none 
I  cherish  more  than  these.  In  looking  at  them  I  have  known 
what  it  is  to  feel  Bishop  Percy's  '  uneasiness  at  the  thoughts 
of  leaving  his  books  in  death*.'  They  became  my  almost 
inseparable  companions.  Before  long  I  began  to  note  the 
parallel  passages  and  allusions  not  only  in  their  pages,  but 
in  the  various  authors  whom  I  studied.     Yet  in  these  early 

'  Post,  iv.  198.  -  Post,  iii.  355. 

days 


Preface.  xiii 

days  I  never  dreamt  of  preparing  a  new  edition.  It  fell  to 
my  lot  as  time  went  on  to  criticise  in  some  of  our  leading 
publications  works  that  bore  both  on  Boswell  and  Johnson. 
Such  was  my  love  for  the  subject  that  on  one  occasion,  when 
I  was  called  upon  to  write  a  review  that  should  fill  two  col- 
umns of  a  weekly  newspaper,  I  read  a  new  edition  of  the 
Life  from  beginning  to  end  without,  1  believe,  missing  a 
single  line  of  the  text  or  a  single  note.  At  length,  '  tower- 
ing in  the  confidence ' '  of  one  who  as  yet  has  but  set  his 
foot  on  the  threshold  of  some  stately  mansion  in  which  he 
hopes  to  find  for  himself  a  home,  I  was  rash  enough  more 
than  twelve  years  ago  to  offer  myself  as  editor  of  a  new 
edition  of  Boswell's  Life  of  JoJinson.  Fortunately  for  me 
another  writer  had  been  already  engaged  by  the  publisher 
to  whom  I  applied,  and  my  offer  was  civilly  declined.  From 
that  time  on  I  never  lost  sight  of  my  purpose  but  when  in 
the  troubles  of  life  I  well-nigh  lost  sight  of  every  kind  of 
hope.  Everything  in  my  reading  that  bore  on  my  favourite 
author  was  carefully  noted,  till  at  length  I  felt  that  the 
materials  which  I  had  gathered  from  all  sides  were  sufficient 
to  shield  me  from  a  charge  of  rashness  if  I  now  began  to 
raise  the  building.  Much  of  the  work  of  preparation  had 
been  done  at  a  grievous  disadvantage.  My  health  more 
than  once  seemed  almost  hopelessly  broken  down.  Never- 
theless even  then  the  time  was  not  wholly  lost.  In  the 
sleepless  hours  of  many  a  winter  night  I  almost  forgot  my 
miseries  in  the  delightful  pages  of  Horace  Walpole's  Letters, 
and  with  pencil  in  hand  and  some  little  hope  still  in  heart, 
managed  to  get  a  few  notes  taken.  Three  winters  I  had  to 
spend  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  During  two  of 
them  my  malady  and  my  distress  allowed  of  no  rival,  and 
my  work  made  scarcely  any  advance.  The  third  my  strength 
was  returning,  and   in  the   six  months  that   I   spent  three 

'  Post,  i.  375- 

years 


xiv  Pr<fcue, 

years  ago  in  San  Remo  I  wrote  out  very  many  of  the  notes 
which  I  am  now  submitting  to  my  readers. 

An  interval  of  some  years  of  comparative  health  that  I 
enjoyed  between  my  two  severest  illnesses  allowed  me  to 
try  my  strength  as  a  critic  and  an  editor.  In  Dr.  Jolinson : 
His  Friends  and  his  Critics,  which  1  published  in  the  year 
1878,  I  reviewed  the  judgments  passed  on  Johnson  and 
Boswcll  by  Lord  Macaulay  and  Mr.  Carlylc,  I  described 
Oxford  as  it  was  known  to  Johnson,  and  I  threw  light  on 
more  than  one  important  passage  in  the  Life.  The  follow- 
ing year  I  edited  Boswell's  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  Corsica  and 
his  curious  correspondence  with  the  Hon.  Andrew  Erskine. 
The  somewhat  rare  little  volume  in  which  are  contained  the 
lively  but  impudent  letters  that  passed  between  these  two 
friends  1  had  found  one  happy  day  in  an  old  book-stall  un- 
derneath the  town  hall  of  Keswick.  I  hoped  that  among 
the  almost  countless  readers  of  Boswell  there  would  be  many 
who  would  care  to  study  in  one  of  the  earliest  attempts  of 
his  joyous  youth  the  man  whose  ripened  genius  was  to  place 
him  at  the  very  head  of  all  the  biographers  of  whom  the 
world  can  boast.  My  hopes  were  increased  by  the  elegance 
and  the  accuracy  of  the  typography  with  which  my  pub- 
lishers, Messrs.  De  La  Rue  ^i  Co.,  adorned  this  reprint.  I 
was  disappointed  in  my  expectations.  These  curious  Letters 
met  with  a  neglect  which  they  did  not  deserve.  Twice, 
moreover,  I  was  drawn  away  from  the  task  that  I  had  set 
before  me  by  other  works.  By  the  death  of  my  uncle,  Sir 
Rowland  Hill,  I  was  called  upon  to  edit  his  History  of  the 
Penny  Postage,  and  to  write  his  Life.  Later  on  General 
Gordon's  correspondence  during  the  first  six  years  of  his 
government  of  the  Soudan  was  entrusted  to  me  to  prepare 
for  the  press.  In  my  Colonel  Gordon  in  Central  Africa  I 
attempted  to  do  justice  to  the  rare  genius,  to  the  wise  and 
pure  enthusiasm,  and  to  the  exalted   beneficence  of  that 

great 


Preface,  xv 

great  man.  The  labour  that  I  gave  to  these  works  was,  as 
regards  my  main  purpose,  by  no  means  wholly  thrown  away. 
I  was  trained  by  it  in  the  duties  of  an  editor,  and  by  study- 
ing the  character  of  two  such  men,  who,  though  wide  as  the 
poles  asunder  in  many  things,  were  as  devoted  to  truth  and 
accuracy  as  they  were  patient  in  their  pursuit,  I  was  strength- 
ened in  my  hatred  of  carelessness  and  error. 

With  all  these  interruptions  the  summer  of  1885  was  upon 
me  before  I  was  ready  for  the  compositors  to  make  a  begin- 
ning with  my  work.  In  revising  my  proofs  very  rarely 
indeed  have  I  contented  myself  in  verifying  my  quotations 
with  comparing  them  merely  with  my  own  manuscript.  In 
almost  all  instances  I  have  once  more  examined  the  originals. 
'  Diligence  and  accuracy,'  writes  Gibbon, '  are  the  only  merits 
which  an  historical  writer  may  ascribe  to  himself ;  if  any 
merit  indeed  can  be  assumed  from  the  performance  of  an 
indispensable  duty'.'  By  diligence  and  accuracy  I  have 
striven  to  win  for  myself  a  place  in  Johnson's  school — '  a 
school  distinguished,'  as  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  said, '  for  a  love 
of  truth  and  accuracy  \'  I  have  steadily  set  before  myself 
Boswell's  example  where  he  says : — '  Let  me  only  observe, 
as  a  specimen  of  my  trouble,  that  I  have  sometimes  been 
obliged  to  run  half  over  London,  in  order  to  fix  a  date  cor- 
rectly ;  which,  when  I  had  accomplished,  I  well  knew  would 
obtain  me  no  praise,  though  a  failure  would  have  been  to 
my  discredit  \'  When  the  variety  and  the  number  of  my 
notes  are  considered,  when  it  is  known  that  a  great  many  of 
the  authors  I  do  not  myself  possess,  but  that  they  could  only 
be  examined  in  the  Bodleian  or  the  British  Museum,  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  labour  of  revising  the  proofs  was,  indeed, 
unusually  severe.  In  the  course  of  the  eighteen  months 
during  which   they  have   been   passing   through  the   press, 

'  History  of  the  Decline  a7id  Fall  of  the  Roman  E>npire,  ed.  1807,  vol.  i. 
p.  xi.  '  Post,  iii.  260.  '  Post,  i.  7. 

I- — B  fresh 


xvi  Preface. 

fresh  reading  has  given  fresh  information,  and  caused  many 
an  addition,  and  not  a  few  corrections  moreover  to  be  made, 
in  passages  which  I  had  previously  presumed  to  think  already 
complete.  Had  it  been  merely  the  biography  of  a  great 
man  of  letters  that  I  was  illustrating,  such  anxious  care 
would  scarcely  have  been  needful.  But  Boswell's  Life  of 
Johnson,  as  its  author  with  just  pride  boasts  on  its  title-page, 
'  exhibits  a  view  of  literature  and  literary  men  in  Great 
Britain,  for  near  half  a  ccntur>'  during  which  Johnson  flour- 
ished.' Wide,  indeed,  is  the  gulf  by  which  this  half-century 
is  separated  from  us.  The  reaction  against  the  thought  and 
style  of  the  age  over  which  Pope  ruled  in  its  prime,  and 
Johnson  in  its  decline, — this  reaction,  wise  as  it  was  in  many 
ways  and  extravagant  as  it  was  perhaps  in  more,  is  very  far 
from  having  spent  its  force.  ,  Young  men  arc  still  far  too 
often  found  in  our  Universities  who  think  that  one  proof  of 
their  originality  is  a  contempt  of  authors  whose  writings 
they  have  never  read.  Books  which  were  in  the  hands  of 
almost  every  reader  of  the  Life  when  it  first  appeared  are 
now  read  only  by  the  curious.  Allusions  and  quotations 
which  once  fell  upon  a  familiar  and  a  friendly  ear  now  fall 
dead.  Men  whose  names  were  known  to  every  one,  now 
often  have  not  even  a  line  in  a  Dictionary  of  Biography. 
Over  manners  too  a  change  has  come,  and  as  Johnson  justly 
observes,  '  all  works  which  describe  manners  require  notes 
in  sixty  or  seventy  years,  or  less'.'  But  it  is  not  only  Bos- 
well's narrative  that  needs  illustration.  Johnson  in  his  talk 
ranges  over  a  vast  number  of  subjects.  In  his  capacious 
memory  were  stored  up  the  fruits  of  an  almost  boundless 
curiosity,  and  a  wide  and  varied  reading.  I  have  sought  to 
follow  him  wherever  a  remark  of  his  required  illustration, 
and  have  read  through  many  a  book  that  I  might  trace  to 
its  source  a  reference   or  an   allusion.      I  have   examined, 

1  Post,  ii.  243. 

moreover 


Preface.  xvii 

moreover,  all  the  minor  writings  which  are  attributed  to  him 
by  Boswell,  but  which  are  not  for  the  most  part  included  in 
his  collected  works.  In  some  cases  I  have  ventured  to  set 
my  judgment  against  Boswell's,  and  have  refused  to  admit 
that  Johnson  was  the  author  of  the  feeble  pieces  which  were 
fathered  on  him.  Once  or  twice  in  the  course  of  my  reading 
I  have  come  upon  essays  which  had  escaped  the  notice  of 
his  biographer,  but  which  bear  the  marks  of  his  workman- 
ship. To  these  I  have  given  a  reference.  While  the  minute 
examination  that  I  have  so  often  had  to  make  of  Boswell's 
narrative  has  done  nothing  but  strengthen  my  trust  in  his 
statements  and  my  admiration  of  his  laborious  truthfulness, 
yet  in  one  respect  I  have  not  found  him  so  accurate  as  I  had 
expected.  '  I  have,'  he  says,  '  been  extremely  careful  as  to 
the  exactness  of  my  quotations '.'  Though  in  preparing  his 
manuscript  he  referred  in  each  case  '  to  the  originals,'  yet  he 
did  not,  I  conjecture,  examine  them  once  more  in  revising 
his  proof-sheets.  At  all  events  he  has  allowed  errors  to  slip 
in.  These  I  have  pointed  out  in  my  notes,  for  in  ever\'  case 
where  I  could  I  have,  I  believe,  verified  his  quotations. 

I  have  not  thought  that  it  was  my  duty  as  an  editor  to 
attempt  to  refute  or  even  to  criticise  Johnson's  arguments. 
The  story  is  told  that  when  Peter  the  Great  v\as  on  his 
travels  and  far  from  his  country,  some  members  of  the  Rus- 
sian Council  of  State  in  St.  Petersburgh  ventured  to  with- 
stand what  was  known  to  be  his  wish.  His  walking-stick 
was  laid  upon  the  table,  and  silence  at  once  fell  upon  all. 
In  like  manner,  before  that  editor  who  should  trouble  him- 
self and  his  readers  with  attempting  to  refute  Johnson's 
arguments,  paradoxical  as  they  often  were,  should  be  placed 
Reynold's  portrait  of  that  'labouring  working  mind^'  It 
might  make  him  reflect  that  if  the  mighty  reasoner  could 
rise  up  and  meet  him  face  to  face,  he  would  be  sure,  on 

■  Post,  i.  7.  "  Post,  iv.  511. 

which 


xviii  Preface. 

which  ever  side  the  right  might  be.  even  if  at  first  his  pistol 
missed  fire  to  knock  him  down  w  itii  the  butt-end  of  it '.  I 
have  attempted  therefore  not  to  criticise  but  to  illustrate 
Johnson's  statements.  I  have  compared  them  with  the 
opinions  of  the  more  eminent  men  among  his  contempora- 
ries, and  with  his  own  as  they  are  contained  in  other  parts 
of  his  Life,  and  in  his  writings.  It  is  in  his  written  works 
that  his  real  opinion  can  be  most  surely  found.  '  He  owned 
he  sometimes  talked  for  \ictor)' ;  he  was  too  conscientious 
to  make  error  j)crmanent  and  pernicious  by  deliberately 
writing  it".'  M)-  numerous  extracts  from  the  eleven  vol- 
umes of  his  collected  works  will,  I  trust,  not  only  give  a  truer 
insight  into  the  nature  of  the  man,  but  also  will  show  the 
greatness  of  the  author  to  a  generation  of  readers  who  have 
wandered  into  widely  different  paths. 

In  my  attempts  to  trace  the  quotations  of  which  both 
Johnson  and  Boswell  were  somewhat  lavish,  I  have  not  in 
every  case  been  successful,  though  I  have  received  liberal  as- 
sistance from  more  than  one  friend.  In  one  case  my  long 
search  was  rewarded  by  the  discovery  that  Boswell  was 
quoting  himself.  That  I  have  lighted  upon  the  beautiful 
lines  which  Johnson  quoted  when  he  saw  the  Highland  girl 
singing  at  her  wheeP,  and  have  found  out  who  was  'one 
Giffard,'  or  rather  Gifford,  '  a  parson,'  is  to  me  a  source  of 
just  triumph.  I  have  not  known  many  happier  hours  than 
the  one  in  which  in  the  Library  of  the  British  Museum  my 
patient  investigation  was  rewarded  and  I  perused  Contem- 
plation. 

Fifteen  hitherto  unpublished  letters  of  Johnson*;  his 
college  composition  in  Latin  prose';  a  long  extract  from  his 
manuscript  diary ^;  a  suppressed  passage  in  his  Joiirticy  to  the 

'  Post,  ii.  115.  "  Post,  iv.  495  ;  v.  18.  *  Post,  v.  133. 

*  Post,  i.  546.  n.  4;  iv.  300,  n.  1  ;  v.  461,  /i.  4,  518,  n.  i  •  vi.  xxi-xxxvii. 
'  Post,  i.  70.  «.  3.  «  Post,  ii.  547. 

I  Vest  em 


Preface.  xix 

Western  Islands^ ;  Boswell's  letters  of  acceptance  of  the 
office  of  Secretary  for  Foreign  Correspondence  to  the  Royal 
Academy'';  the  proposal  for  the  publication  of  a  Geograph- 
ical Dictionary  issued  by  Johnson's  beloved  friend,  Dr.  Bath- 
urst';  and  Mr.  Recorder  Longley's  record  of  his  conversa- 
tion with  Johnson  on  Greek  metres*,  will,  I  trust,  throw 
some  lustre  on  this  edition. 

In  many  notes  I  have  been  able  to  clear  up  statements  in 
the  text  which  were  not  fully  understood  even  by  the  au- 
thor, or  were  left  intentionally  dark  by  him,  or  have  be- 
come obscure  through  lapse  of  time.  I  would  particularly 
refer  to  the  light  that  I  have  thrown  on  Johnson's  engaging 
in  politics  with  William  Gerard  Hamilton \  and  on  Burke's 
'talk  of  retiring'.'  In  many  other  notes  I  have  established 
Boswell's  accuracy  against  attacks  which  had  been  made  on 
it  apparently  with  success.  It  was  with  much  pleasure  that 
1  discovered  that  the  story  told  of  Johnson's  listening  to  Dr. 
Sacheverel's  sermon  is  not  in  any  way  improbable',  and 
that  Johnson's  'censure'  of  Lord  Kames  was  quite  just*. 
The  ardent  advocates  of  total  abstinence  will  not,  I  fear,  be 
pleased  at  finding  at  the  end  of  my  long  note  on  Johnson's 
wine-drinking  that  I  have  been  obliged  to  show  that  he 
thought  that  the  gout  from  which  he  suffered  was  due  to 
his  temperance.  '  I  hope  you  persevere  in  drinking,'  he 
wrote  to  his  friend,  Dr.  Taylor.  '  My  opinion  is  that  I  have 
drunk  too  little'.' 

In  the  Appendices  I  have  generally  treated  of  subjects 
which  demanded  more  space  than  could  be  given  them  in 
the  narrow  limits  of  a  foot-note.  In  the  twelve  pages  of 
the  essay  on  Johnson's  Debates  ifi  Parliament^''  I  have  com- 

•  Post,  vi.  xxxii.  *  Post,  iv.  9,  n.  5.  •  Post,  iii.  387, «.  i. 

"  Post,  iii.  525.  *  Post,  i.  566,  601.  "  Post,  i.  120,  n.  2. 

'  Post,  vi.  xxii.  •  Post,  iv.  258,  n.  i.  '"  Post,  i.  581. 

'  Post,  i.  45,  ti.  2. 

pressed 


XX  Preface. 

pressed  the  result  of  the  reading  of  many  weeks.  In  ex- 
amining the  character  of  George  Psalmanazar'  I  have  com- 
plied with  the  request  of  an  unknown  correspondent  who 
was  naturally  interested  in  the  history  of  that  strange  man, 
'after  whom  Johnson  sought  the  most\'  In  my  essay  on 
Johnson's  Travels  and  Love  of  Travelling^  I  have,  in  oppo- 
sition to  Lord  Macaulay's  wild  and  wanton  rhetoric,  shown 
how  ardent  and  how  elevated  was  the  curiosity  with  which 
Johnson's  niiiul  was  possessed.  In  another  essay  I  have  ex- 
plained, 1  do  not  say  justified,  his  strong  feelings  towards 
the  founders  of  the  United  States*;  and  in  a  fifth  I  have 
examined  the  election  of  the  Lord  Mayors  of  London,  at  a 
time  when  the  City  was  torn  by  political  strife  \  To  the 
other  Appendices  it  is  not  needful  particularly  to  refer. 

In  my  Index,  which  has  cost  me  many  months'  heavy 
work, '  while  I  bore  burdens  with  dull  patience  and  beat  the 
track  of  the  alphabet  with  sluggish  resolution','  I  have,  I 
hope,  shown  that  I  am  not  unmindful  of  all  that  I  owe  to 
men  of  letters.  To  the  dead  we  cannot  pay  the  debt  of 
gratitude  that  is  their  due.  Some  relief  is  obtained  from  its 
burthen,  if  we  in  our  turn  make  the  men  of  our  own  gener- 
ation debtors  to  us.  The  plan  on  which  my  Index  is  made 
will,  I  trust,  be  found  convenient.  By  the  alphabetical  ar- 
rangement in  the  separate  entries  of  each  article  the  reader, 
I  venture  to  think,  will  be  greatly  facilitated  in  his  research- 
es. Certain  subjects  I  have  thought  it  best  to  form  into 
groups.  Under  America,  France,  Ireland,  London,  Oxford, 
Paris,  and  Scotland,  are  gathered  together  almost  all  the  ref- 
erences to  those  subjects.  The  provincial  towns  of  France, 
however,  by  some  mistake  I  did  not  include  in  the  general 
article.  One  important  but  intentional  omission  I  must 
justify.     In  the  case  of  the  quotations  in  which  my  notes 

>  Post,  iii.  503.  '  Post,  iii.  510.  ^  Post,  iii.  521. 

'  Post,  iii.  357.  *  Post,  ii.  549.  550.  '  Post,  \.  219,  n.  i. 

abound 


Preface.  xxi 

abound  I  have  not  thought  it  needful  in  the  Index  to  refer 
to  the  book  unless  the  eminence  of  the  author  required  a 
separate  and  a  second  entry.  My  labour  would  have  been 
increased  beyond  all  endurance  and  my  Index  have  been 
swollen  almost  into  a  monstrosity  had  I  always  referred  to 
the  book  as  well  as  to  the  matter  which  was  contained  in 
the  passage  that  I  extracted.  Though  in  such  a  variety  of 
subjects  there  must  be  many  omissions,  yet  I  shall  be  great- 
ly disappointed  if  actual  errors  are  discovered.  Every  entry 
I  have  made  myself,  and  every  entry  I  have  verified  in  the 
proof-sheets,  not  by  comparing  it  with  my  manuscript,  but 
by  turning  to  the  reference  in  the  printed  volumes.  Some 
indulgence  nevertheless  may  well  be  claimed  and  granted. 
If  Homer  at  times  nods,  an  index-maker  may  be  pardoned, 
should  he  in  the  fourth  or  fifth  month  of  his  task  at  the  end 
of  a  day  of  eight  hours'  work  grow  drowsy.  May  I  fondly 
hope  that  to  the  maker  of  so  large  an  Index  will  be  extend- 
ed the  gratitude  which  Lord  Bolingbroke  says  was  once 
shown  to  lexicographers?  '  I  approve,'  writes  his  Lordship, 
'  the  devotion  of  a  studious  man  at  Christ  Church,  who  was 
overheard  in  his  oratory  entering  into  a  detail  with  God, 
and  acknowledging  the  divine  goodness  in  furnishing  the 
world  with  makers  of  dictionaries'.' 

In  the  list  that  I  give  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  vol- 
ume of  the  books  which  I  quote,  the  reader  will  find  stated 
in  full  the  titles  which  in  the  notes,  through  regard  to  space, 
I  was  forced  to  compress. 

The  Concordance  of  Johnson's  sayings  which  follows  the 
Index'  will  be  found  convenient  by  the  literary  man  who 
desires  to  make  use  of  his  strong  and  pointed  utterances. 
Next  to  Shakespeare  he  is,  I  believe,  quoted  and  misquoted 
the  most  frequently  of  all  our  writers.  '  It  is  not  every  man 
that  can  carry  a  bon-nwt''.'     Bons-mots  that  are  miscarried 

'  Post,  i.  343,  n.  3.  '  Post,  vi.  ^  Post,  ii.  401. 

of 


xxii  Preface. 

of  all  kinds  of  good  things  suffer  the  most.  In  this  Con- 
cordance the  general  reader,  moreover,  may  find  much  to 
delight  him.  Johnson's  trade  was  wit  and  wisdom',  and 
some  of  his  best  wares  are  here  set  out  in  a  small  space.  It 
was,  I  must  confess,  with  no  little  pleasure  that  in  revising 
my  proof-sheets  I  found  that  the  last  line  in  my  Concord- 
ance and  the  last  line  in  my  six  long  volumes  is  Johnson's 
quotation  of  Goldsmith's  fine  saying :  '  I  do  not  love  a  man 
who  is  zealous  for  nothing.' 

In  the  '  forward  '  references  in  the  notes  to  other  passages 
in  the  book,  the  reader  may  be  surprised  at  finding  that 
while  often  I  only  give  the  date  under  which  the  reference 
will  be  found,  frequently  I  am  able  to  quote  the  page  and 
volume.  The  explanation  is  a  simple  one  :  two  sets  of  com- 
positors were  generally  at  work,  and  two  volumes  were  pass- 
ing through  the  press  simultaneously. 

In  the  selection  of  the  text  which  I  should  adopt  I  hesi- 
tated for  some  time.  In  ordinary  cases  the  edition  which 
received  the  author's  final  revision  is  the  one  which  all  fut- 
ure editors  should  follow.  The  second  edition,  which  was 
the  last  that  was  brought  out  in  Boswell's  lifetime,  could 
not,  I  became  convinced,  be  conveniently  reproduced.  As  it 
was  passing  through  the  press  he  obtained  many  additional 
anecdotes  and  letters.  These  he  somewhat  awkwardly  in- 
serted in  an  Introduction  and  an  Appendix.  He  was  en- 
gaged on  his  third  edition  when  he  died.  '  He  had  pointed 
out  where  some  of  these  materials  should  be  inserted,'  and  '  in 
the  margin  of  the  copy  which  he  had  in  part  revised  he  had 
written  notes^'  His  interrupted  labours  were  completed  by 
Edmond  Malone,  to  whom  he  had  read  aloud  almost  the 
whole  of  his  original  manuscript,  and  who  had  helped  him  in 
the  revision  of  the  first  half  of  the  book  when  it  was  in  type'. 
'  These  notes,'  says  Malone,  *  are  faithfully  preserved.*     He 

'  Post,  iii.  155, ;/.  2,  442.  *  Post,  i.  17,  18.  '  Post,  i.  8. 

adds 


Preface.  xxiii 

adds  that  '  every  new  remark,  not  written  by  the  author,  for 
the  sake  of  distinction  has  been  enclosed  within  crotchets'.' 
In  the  third  edition  therefore  we  have  the  work  in  the  con- 
dition in  which  it  would  have  most  approved  itself  to  Bos- 
well's  own  judgment.  In  one  point  only,  and  that  a  trifling 
one,  had  Malone  to  exercise  his  judgment.  But  so  skilful  an 
editor  was  very  unlikely  to  go  wrong  in  those  few  cases  in 
which  he  was  called  upon  to  insert  in  their  proper  places  the 
additional  material  which  the  author  had  already  published 
in  his  second  edition.  Malone  did  not,  however,  correct  the 
proof-sheets.  I  thought  it  my  duty,  therefore,  in  revising 
my  work  to  have  the  text  of  Boswell's  second  edition  read 
aloud  to  me  throughout  Some  typographical  errors  might, 
I  feared,  have  crept  in.  In  a  few  unimportant  cases  early  in 
the  book  I  adopted  the  reading  of  the  second  edition,  but 
as  I  read  on  I  became  convinced  that  almost  all  the  verbal 
alterations  were  Boswell's  own.  Slight  errors,  often  of  the 
nature  of  Scotticisms,  had  been  corrected,  and  greater  accu- 
racy often  given.  Some  of  the  corrections  and  additions  in 
the  third  edition  that  were  undoubtedly  from  his  hand  were 
of  considerable  importance. 

I  have  retained  Boswell's  spelling  in  accordance  with  the 
wish  that  he  expressed  in  the  preface  to  his  Account  of  Cor- 
sica. '  If  this  work,'  he  writes,  'should  at  any  future  period 
be  reprinted,  I  hope  that  care  will  be  taken  of  my  orthog- 
raphy".'    The  punctuation  too  has  been  preserved. 

I  should  be  wanting  in  justice  were  I  not  to  acknowledge 
that  I  owe  much  to  the  labors  of  Mr.  Croker.  No  one  can 
know  better  than  I  do  his  great  failings  as  an  editor.  His 
remarks  and  criticisms  far  too  often  deserve  the  contempt 
that  Macaulay  so  liberally  poured  on  them.  Without  being 
deeply  versed  in  books,  he  was  shallow  in  himself.  Johnson's 
strong  character  was  never  known  to  him.     Its  breadth  and 

»  Post,  i,  17,  i8,  »  Post,  IV,  37, ;/,  i, 

length, 


xxiv  Preface. 

length,  and  depth  and  height  were  far  beyond  his  measure. 
With  his  writings  even  he  shows  few  signs  of  being  famihar. 
Boswell's  genius,  a  genius  which  even  to  Lord  Macaulay 
was  foohshness,  was  altogether  hidden  from  his  dull  eye. 
No  one  surely  but  a  '  blockhead,'  a  '  barren  rascal ','  could 
with  scissors  and  paste -pot  have  mangled  the  biography 
which  of  all  others  is  the  delight  and  the  boast  of  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking world.  He  is  careless  in  small  matters,  and  his 
blunders  are  numerous.  These  I  have  only  noticed  in  the 
more  important  cases,  remembering  what  Johnson  some- 
where points  out,  that  the  triumphs  of  one  critic  over  an- 
other only  fatigue  and  disgust  the  reader.  Yet  he  has  added 
considerably  to  our  knowledge  of  Johnson.  He  knew  men 
who  had  intimately  known  both  the  hero  and  his  biographer, 
and  he  gathered  much  that  but  for  his  care  would  have  been 
lost  for  ever.  He  was  diligent  and  successful  in  his  search 
after  Johnson's  letters,  of  so  many  of  which  Boswell  with  all 
his  persevering  and  pushing  diligence  had  not  been  able  to 
get  a  sight.  The  editor  of  Mr.  Croker's  Correspondence  and 
Diaries^  goes,  however,  much  too  far  when,  in  writing  of  Ma- 
caulay's  criticism,  he  says :  '  The  attack  defeated  itself  by  its 
very  violence,  and  therefore  it  did  the  book  no  harm  what- 
ever. Between  forty  and  fifty  thousand  copies  have  been 
sold,  although  Macaulay  boasted  with  great  glee  that  he  had 
smashed  it.'  The  book  that  Macaulay  attacked  was  with- 
drawn. That  monstrous  medley  reached  no  second  edition. 
In  its  new  form  all  the  worst  excrescences  had  been  cleared 
away,  and  though  what  was  left  was  not  Boswell,  still  less 
was  it  unchastened  Croker.  His  repentance,  however,  was 
not  thorough.  He  never  restored  the  text  to  its  old  state ; 
wanton  transpositions  of  passages  still  remain,  and  numerous 
insertions  break  the  narrative.  It  was  my  good  fortune  to 
become  a  sound  Boswellian  before  I  even  looked  at  his 
'  ii.  199.  '  vol.  ii.  p.  47. 

edition 


Preface.  xxv 

edition.  It  was  not  indeed  till  I  came  to  write  out  my  notes 
for  the  press  that  I  examined  his  with  any  thoroughness. 

'Notes,'  says  Johnson,  'are  often  necessary,  but  they  are 
necessary  evils'.'  To  the  young  reader  who  for  the  first 
time  turns  over  Boswell's  delightful  pages  I  would  venture 
to  give  the  advice  Johnson  gives  about  Shakespeare: — 

'Let  him  that  is  yet  unacquainted  with  the  powers  of  Shake- 
speare, and  who  desires  to  feel  the  highest  pleasure  that  the  drama 
can  give,  read  every  play  from  the  first  scene  to  the  last  with  utter 
negligence  of  all  his  commentators.  When  his  fancy  is  once  on 
the  wing,  let  it  not  stoop  at  correction  or  explanation.  When  his 
attention  is  strongly  engaged  let  it  disdain  alike  to  turn  aside  to 
the  name  of  Theobald  and  of  Pope.  Let  him  read  on  through 
brightness  and  obscurity,  through  integrity  and  corruption  ;  let 
him  preserve  his  comprehension  of  the  dialogue  and  his  interest 
in  the  fable.  And  when  the  pleasures  of  novelty  have  ceased  let 
him  attempt  exactness  and  read  the  commentators  '.' 

So  too  let  him  who  reads  the  Life  of  Jo/mson  for  the  first 
time  read  it  in  one  of  the  Pre-Crokerian  editions.  They  are 
numerous  and  good.  With  his  attention  undiverted  by  notes 
he  will  rapidly  pass  through  one  of  the  most  charming  nar- 
ratives that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  and  if  his  taste  is  uncor- 
rupted  by  modern  extravagances,  will  recognise  the  genius 
of  an  author  who,  in  addition  to  other  great  qualities,  has 
an  admirable  eye  for  the  just  proportions  of  an  extensive 
work,  and  who  is  the  master  of  a  style  that  is  as  easy  as  it 
is  inimitable. 

Johnson,  I  fondly  believe,  would  have  been  pleased,  per- 
haps would  even  have  been  proud,  could  he  have  foreseen 
this  edition.  Few  distinctions  he  valued  more  highly  than 
those  which  he  received  from  his  own  great  University.  The 
honorary  degrees  that  it  conferred  on  him,  the  gown  that  it 
entitled  him  to  wear,  by  him  were  highly  esteemed.     In  the 

'  Johnson's  Works,  ed.  1825,  vol.  v.  p.  152.  •'  id. 

Clarendon 


xxvi  Preface. 

Clarendon  Press  he  took  a  great  interest '.  The  efforts  which 
that  famous  establishment  has  made  in  the  excellence  of  the 
typography,  the  quality  of  the  paper,  and  the  admirably-ex- 
ecuted illustrations  and  facsimiles  to  do  honor  to  his  memory 
and  to  the  genius  of  his  biographer  would  have  highly  de- 
lighted him.  To  his  own  college  he  was  so  deeply  attached 
that  he  would  not  have  been  displeased  to  learn  that  his 
editor  had  been  nursed  in  that  once  famous  *  nest  of  sing- 
ing birds.'  Of  Hoswell's  pleasure  I  cannot  doubt.  How 
much  he  valued  any  tribute  of  respect  from  Oxford  is  shown 
by  the  absurd  importance  that  he  gave  to  a  sermon  which 
was  preached  before  the  University  by  an  insignificant  cler- 
gyman more  than  a  year  and  <i  h.ilf  after  Johnson's  death'. 
When  Edmund  Burke  witnessed  the  long  and  solemn  pro- 
cession entering  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Paul's,  as  it  followed 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  to  his  grave,  he  wrote :  *  Everything,  I 
think,  was  just  as  our  deceased  friend  would,  if  living,  have 
wished  it  to  be ;  for  he  was,  as  you  know,  not  altogether  in- 
different to  this  kind  of  observances'.'  It  would,  indeed,  be 
presumptuous  in  me  to  flatter  myself  that  in  this  edition 
everything  is  as  Johnson  and  Boswell  would,  if  living,  have 
wished  it.  Yet  to  this  kind  of  observances,  the  observances 
that  can  be  shown  by  patient  and  long  labour,  and  by  the  fa- 
mous press  of  a  great  University,  neither  man  was  altogether 
indifferent. 

Should  my  work  find  favour  with  the  world  of  readers,  I 
hope  again  to  labour  in  the  same  fields.  I  had  indeed  at 
one  time  intended  to  enlarge  this  edition  by  essays  on  Bos- 
well, Johnson,  Mrs.  Thrale,  and  perhaps  on  other  subjects. 
Their  composition,  would,  however,  have  delayed  publication 
more  than  seemed  advisable,  and  their  length  might  have 
rendered  the  volumes  bulky  beyond   all   reason,     A  more 

'  Set  post,  ii.  39,  486-8,  504.  »  Stc  post,  iv.  486. 

*  Correspondence  of  Edmund  Burke,  ii.  425. 

favourable 


Preface.  xxvii 

favourable  opportunity  may  come.  I  have  in  hand  a  Selec- 
tion of  the  Wit  and  Wisdom  of  Dr.  Johnson.  I  purpose, 
moreover,  to  collect  and  edit  all  of  his  letters  that  are  not  in 
the  Life.  Some  hundreds  of  these  were  published  by  Mrs. 
Piozzi ;  many  more  are  contained  in  Mr.  Croker's  edition  ; 
while  others  have  already  appeared  in  Notes  and  Queries', 
Not  a  few,  doubtless,  are  still  lurking  in  the  desks  of  the  col- 
lectors of  autographs.  As  a  letter- writer  Johnson  stands 
very  high.  While  the  correspondence  of  David  Garrick  has 
been  given  to  tlic  world  in  two  large  volumes,  it  is  not  right 
that  the  letters  of  his  far  greater  friend  should  be  left  scat- 
tered and  almost  neglected.  '  He  that  sees  before  him  to  his 
third  dinner,'  says  Johnson,  'has  a  long  prospect'.'  My 
prospect  is  still  longer ;  for,  if  health  be  spared,  and  a  fair 
degree  of  public  favour  shown,  I  see  before  me  to  my  third 
book.  When  I  have  published  my  Letters,  I  hope  to  enter 
upon  a  still  more  arduous  task  in  editing  the  Lives  of  the 
Poets. 

In  my  work  I  have  received  much  kind  assistance,  not  only 
from  friends,  but  also  from  strangers  to  whom  I  had  applied 
in  cases  where  special  knowledge  could  alone  throw  light  on 
some  obscure  point.  My  acknowledgments  I  have  in  most 
instances  made  in  my  notes.  In  some  cases,  either  through 
want  of  opportunity  or  forgetfulness,  this  has  not  been  done. 
I  gladly  avail  myself  of  the  present  opportunity  to  remedy 
this  deficiency.  The  Earl  of  Crawford  and  Balcarres  I  have 
to  thank  for  so  liberally  allowing  the  original  of  the  famous 
Round  Robin,  which  is  in  his  Lordship's  possession,  to  be 
reproduced  by  a  photographic  process  for  this  edition.  It  is 
by  the  kindness  of  Mr.  J.  L.  G.  Mowat,  M.A.,  Fellow  and 
Bursar  of  Pembroke  College,  Oxford,  that  I  have  been  able 
to  make  a  careful  examination  of  the  Johnsonian  manuscripts 

'  To  this  interesting  and  accurate  publication  I  am  indebted  for 
many  valuable  notes.  ■  ''  Post,  ill.  59,  «.  3. 

in 


xxviii  Preface. 

in  which  our  college  is  so  rich.  If  the  vigilance  with  which 
he  keeps  guard  over  these  treasures  while  they  are  being  in- 
spected is  continued  by  his  successors  in  office,  the  college  will 
never  have  to  mourn  over  the  loss  of  a  single  leaf.  To  the 
Rev.  W.  \).  Macray,  M.A.,  of  the  manuscript  department  of 
the  Bodleian,  to  Mr.  Falconer  Madan,  M.A..  .Sub-iJbrarian  of 
the  same  Library,  and  to  Mr.  George  I'arker.  one  of  the  As- 
sistants,  I  am  indebted  for  the  kindness  with  which  they  have 
helped  iik-  in  \w\  iiujuiries.  To  Mr.  \\  .  11.  .\llnutt,  aiiotlu-r 
of  the  Assistants.  I  owe  still  more.  When  1  w.is  abroad.  I 
too  frequently,  1  fear,  troubled  him  with  questions  which  no 
one  could  have  answered  who  was  not  well  versed  in  biblio- 
graphical lore.  It  was  not  often  that  his  .icuteness  was  baf- 
fled, while  his  kindness  was  never  exhausted.  My  old  friend 
Mr.  E.  J.  Payne,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  University  College.  O.xford, 
the  learnetl  editor  of  the  Select  Works  of  Burke  published  by 
the  Clarendon  I'rcss.  has  allowed  nie,  whcnevi  r  I  pleased,  to 
draw  on  his  extensive  knowledge  of  the  histor>'  and  the  lit- 
erature of  the  eighteenth  centurj'.  Mr.  C.  G.  Crump.  B.A., 
of  Balliol  College,  Oxford,  has  traced  for  me  not  a  few  of  the 
quotations  which  had  baffled  my  search.  To  .Mr.  G.  K.  I'^or- 
tescue,  Superintendent  of  the  Reading  Room  of  the  British 
Museum,  my  most  grateful  acknowledgments  are  due.  His 
accurate  and  extensive  knowledge  of  books  and  his  unfailing 
courtesy  and  kindness  have  lightened  many  a  day's  heavy 
work  in  the  spacious  room  over  which  he  so  worthily  pre- 
sides. But  most  of  all  am  I  indebted  to  Mr.  C.  E.  Doble, 
M.A.,  of  the  Clarendon  Press.  He  has  read  all  my  proof- 
sheets,  and  by  his  almost  unrivalled  knowledge  of  the  men 
of  letters  of  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  and  of  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eighteenth  centuries,  he  has  saved  my  notes  from 
some  blunders  and  has  enriched  them  with  much  valuable 
information.  In  m)-  absence  abroad  he  has  in  more  in- 
stances than  I  care  to  think  of  consulted  for  me  the  Bodleian 

Library 


Preface.  xxix 

Librar>'.  It  is  some  relief  to  my  conscience  to  know  that  the 
task  was  rendered  lighter  to  him  by  his  intimate  familiarity 
with  its  treasures,  and  by  the  deep  love  for  literature  with 
which  he  is  inspired. 

There  are  other  thanks  due  which  I  cannot  here  fittingly 
express.  'An  author  partakes  of  the  common  condition  of 
humanity;  he  is  born  and  married  like  another  man  ;  he  has 
hopes  and  fears,  expectations  and  disappointments,  griefs 
and  joys  like  a  courtier  or  a  statesman '.'  In  the  hopes  and 
fears,  in  the  expectations  and  disappointments,  in  the  griefs 
and  joys — nay,  in  the  very  labours  of  his  literary  life,  if 
his  hearth  is  not  a  solitary  one,  he  has  those  who  largely 
share. 

I  have  now  come  to  the  end  of  my  long  labours.  '  There 
are  few  things  not  purely  evil,'  wrote  Johnson,  '  of  which 
we  can  say  without  some  emotion  of  uneasiness,  this  is  the 
last'.'  F^rom  this  emotion  I  cannot  feign  that  I  am  free. 
My  book  has  been  my  companion  in  many  a  sad  and  many 
a  happy  hour.  I  take  leave  of  it  with  a  pang  of  regret,  but 
I  am  cheered  by  the  hope  that  it  may  take  its  place,  if  a 
lowly  one,  among  the  works  of  men  who  have  laboured  pa- 
tiently but  not  unsuccessfully  in  the  great  and  shining  fields 
of  English  literature. 

G.  B.  H. 
Clarens,  Switzerland: 
March  1 6,  1887. 

'  Johnson's  Works,  ed.  18.15.  vol.  iv.  p.  446.  '^  Post,  i.  384,  n.  3. 


DEDICATION. 

TO    SIR    JOSHUA    REYNOLDS. 

My  Dear  Sir, 

Every  liberal  motive  that  can  actuate  an  Au- 
thour  in  the  dedication  of  his  labours,  concurs  in  directing 
me  to  you,  as  the  person  to  whom  the  following  Work 
should  be  inscribed. 

If  there  be  a  pleasure  in  celebrating  the  distinguished 
merit  of  a  contemporary,  mixed  with  a  certain  degree  of 
vanity  not  altogether  inexcusable,  in  appearing  fully  sensi- 
ble of  it,  where  can  I  find  one,  in  complimenting  whom  I 
can  with  more  general  approbation  gratify  those  feelings? 
Your  excellence  not  only  in  the  Art  over  which  you  have 
long  presided  with  unrivalled  fame,  but  also  in  Philosophy 
and  elegant  Literature,  is  well  known  to  the  present,  and 
will  continue  to  be  the  admiration  of  future  ages.  Your 
equal  and  placid  temper',  your  variety  of  conversation, 
your  true  politeness,  b\'  which  you  arc  so  amiable  in  private 
society,  and  that  enlarged  hospitality  which  has  long  made 
your  house  a  common  centre  of  union  for  the  great,  the  ac- 
complished, the  learned,  and  the  ingenious ;  all  these  quali- 
ties I  can,  in  perfect  confidence  of  not  being  accused  of  flat- 
tery, ascribe  to  you. 

If  a  man  may  indulge  an  honest  pride,  in  having  it  known 
to  the  world,  that  he  has  been  thought  worthy  of  particular 

'  Johnson  said  of  him  :— '  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  is  the  same  ail  the 
year  round;'  post,  March  28,  1776.  Boswell  elsewhere  describes  him 
as  '  he  who  used  to  be  looked  upon  as  perhaps  the  most  happy  man 
in  the  world.'    Letters  0/  Boswell,  p.  344. 

I, I  attention 


2  Dedicatio7i. 

attention  by  a  person  of  the  first  eminence  in  the  age  in 
which  he  hved,  whose  company  has  been  universally  court- 
ed, I  am  justified  in  avaiHng  myself  of  the  usual  privilege  of 
a  Dedication,  when  I  mention  that  there  has  been  a  long 
and  uninterrupted  friendship  between  us. 

If  gratitude  should  be  acknowledged  for  favours  received, 
I  have  this  opportunit)',  ni)-  dear  Sir,  most  sincerely  to  thank 
you  for  the  man)'  happ)'  hours  which  I  owe  to  your  kind- 
ness,— for  the  cordiality  with  which  you  have  at  all  times 
been  pleased  to  welcome  me, — for  the  number  of  valuable 
acquaintances  to  whom  you  have  introduced  me, — for  the 
nodes  coenceqiie  Deilui\  which  1  have  enjoyed  under  vour 
xooV. 

If  a  work  should  be  inscribed  to  one  who  is  master  of  the 
subject  of  it,  and  whose  approbation,  therefore,  must  ensure 
it  credit  and  success,  the  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson  is.  with  the 
greatest  propriety,  dedicated  to  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  who 
was  the  intimate  and  beloved  friend  of  that  great  man  ;  the 
friend,  whom  he  declared  to  be  '  the  most  invulnerable  man 
he  knew;  whom,  if  he  should  quarrel  with  him,  he  should 
find  the  most  difficulty  how  to  abuse'.'  You,  my  dear  Sir, 
studied  him,  and  knew  him  well:  you  venerated  and  ad- 
mired him.     Yet,  luminous  as  he  was  upon  the  whole,  you 

'  '  O  noctes  ccensque  Deum  I' 
'  O  joyous  nights !  delicious  feasts  ! 
At  which  the  gods  might  be  my  guests." 

Francis.  Horace.  Sat.  ii.  6.  65. 
'  Six  years  before  this  Dedication  Sir  Joshua  had  conferred  on  him 
another  favour.  '  I  have  a  proposal  to  make  to  you.'  Bosvvell  had 
written  to  him. '  I  am  for  certain  to  be  called  to  the  English  bar  next 
February.  Will  you  now  do  my  picture.'  and  the  price  shall  be  paid 
out  of  the  first  fees  which  I  receive  as  a  barrister  in  Westminster 
Hall.  Or  if  that  fund  should  fail,  it  shall  be  paid  at  any  rate  five 
years  hence  by  myself  or  my  representatives.'  Boswell  told  him  at 
the  same  time  that  the  debts  which  he  had  contracted  in  his  father's 
lifetime  would  not  be  cleared  ofT  for  some  years.  The  letter  was  en- 
dorsed by  Sir  Joshua:— 'I  agree  to  the  above  conditions;'  and  the 
portrait  was  painted.  Taylor's  Reynolds,  ii.  477. 
*  See  Boswell's  Hebrides.  Aug.  24,  1773, 

perceived 


Dedication.  % 

perceived  all  the  shades  which  mingled  in  the  grand  com- 
position ;  all  the  little  peculiarities  and  slight  blemishes 
which  marked  the  b'terary  Colossus.  Your  very  warm  com- 
mendation of  the  specimen  which  I  gave  in  my  Jotirnal  of 
a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  of  my  being  able  to  preserve  his 
conversation  in  an  authentick  and  lively  manner,  which 
opinion  the  Publick  has  confirmed,  was  the  best  encourage- 
ment for  me  to  persevere  in  my  purpose  of  producing  the 
whole  of  my  stores'. 

In  one  respect,  this  Work  will,  in  some  passages,  be  dif- 
ferent from  the  former.  In  my  Tour,  I  was  almost  unbound- 
edly open  in  my  communications,  and  from  my  eagerness  to 
display  the  wonderful  fertility  and  readiness  of  Johnson's 
wit,  freely  shewed  to  the  world  its  dexterity,  even  when  I 
was  myself  the  object  of  it.  I  trusted  that  I  should  be  lib- 
erally understood,  as  knowing  very  well  what  I  was  about, 
and  by  no  means  as  simply  unconscious  of  the  pointed  ef- 
fects of  the  satire.  I  own,  indeed,  that  I  was  arrogant 
enough  to  suppose  that  the  tenour  of  the  rest  of  the  book 
would  sufficiently  guard  me  against  such  a  strange  imputa- 
tion. But  it  seems  I  judged  too  well  of  the  world  ;  for, 
though  I  could  scarcely  believe  it,  I  have  been  undoubtedly 
informed,  that  many  persons,  especially  in  distant  quarters, 
not  penetrating  enough  into  Johnson's  character,  so  as  to 
understand  his  mode  of  treating  his  friends,  have  arraigned 
my  judgement,  instead  of  seeing  that  I  was  sensible  of  all 
that  they  could  observe. 

It  is  related  of  the  great  Dr.  Clarke",  that  when  in  one  of 

'  '  I  surely  have  the  art  of  writing  agreeably.  The  Lord  Chancellor 
[Thurlow]  told  me  he  had  read  ever)'  word  of  my  Hebridian  Journal ;' 
he  could  not  help  it;  adding,  'could  you  give  a  rule  how  to  write  a 
book  that  a  man  ynust  read  }  I  believe  Longinus  could  not.'  Letters 
of  Boswell,  p.  322. 

*  Boswell  perhaps  quotes  from  memorj'  the  following  passage  ii» 
Goldsmith's  Life  of  Nash : — '  The  doctor  was  one  day  conversing 
with  Locke  and  two  or  three  more  of  his  learned  and  intimate  com- 
panions with  that  freedom,  gaiety,  and  cheerfulness,  which  is  ever 
the  result  of  innocence.    In  the  midst  of  their  mirth  and  laughter,  the 

his 


4  Dedication. 

his  leisure  hours  he  was  unbcndinjj  himself  with  a  few 
friends  in  the  most  playful  and  frolicksome  manner,  he  ob- 
served Beau  Nash  approaching;  upon  which  he  suddenly 
stopped  : — '  My  bf))'s.  (said  he,)  let  us  be  grave  :  here  comes 
a  fool.'  The  world,  iii)'  friiiul,  I  have  found  to  be  a  great 
fool,  as  to  that  p.irticular.  on  which  it  has  become  nc-cessar>' 
to  speak  ver)'  piainl)'.  I  have,  therefore,  in  this  Work  been 
more  reserved',  and  though  I  tell  nothing  but  the  truth,  I 
have  still  kept  in  my  mind  that  the  whole  truth  is  not  al- 
ways to  be  exposed.  This,  however,  I  have  managed  .so  as 
to  occasion  no  diminution  of  the  pleasure  which  my  book 
should  afford;  though  malignity  may  sometimes  be  disap- 
pointed of  its  gratifications. 
I  am. 

My  dear  Sir, 

Your  much  »)bliged  friend, 

And  faithful  humble  servant, 

J.\Mi:S    HOSWRT.L. 
London, 
April  20,  1 791. 

doctor,  looking  from  the  window,  saw  Nash's  chariot  stop  at  the  door. 
"  Boys,  boys,"  cried  the  philosopher,  "let  us  now  be  wise,  for  here  is 
a  fool  coming,*"  Cunningham's  Goldsmith's  Works,  iv.  96.  Dr. 
Warton  in  his  criticism  on  Pope's  line 

*  Unthought  of  frailties  cheat  us  in  the  wise,' 

{Moral  Essays,  i.  69) 
says: — '  For  who  could  imagine  that  Dr.  Clarke  valued  himself  for  his 
agility,  and  frequently  amused  himself  in  a  private  room  of  his  house 
in  leaping  over  the  tables  and  chairs.'  Warton's  Essay  on  Pope.  ii. 
125.  'It  is  a  good  remark  of  Montaigne's,"  wrote  Goldsmith,  'that 
the  wisest  men  often  have  friends  with  whom  they  do  not  care  how 
much  they  play  the  fool.'  Forster's  Goldsmith,  i.  166.  Mr.  Seward 
says  in  his  Anecdotes,  ii.  320,  that  '  in  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Johnson,  Dr. 
Clarke  was  the  most  complete  literary'  character  that  England  ever 
produced.'  For  Dr.  Clarke's  sermons  stc  post,  April  7,  1778. 
'  S&cpost,  Oct,  16,  1769,  note. 


ADVERTISEMENT 

TO   THE 

FIRST  EDITION. 


I  AT  last  deliver  to  the  zvorld  a  Work  which  I  have  long 
promised,  and  of  which,  I  am  afraid,  too  high  expectations 
have  been  raised.^  The  delay  of  its  publication  must  be  im- 
puted, in  a  considerable  degree,  to  the  extraordinary  ceal  which 
has  been  shewn  by  distinguished  persons  in  all  quarters  to  sup- 
ply me  with  additional  inforviation  concerning  its  illustrious 
subject ;  resembling  i)i  this  the  grateful  tribes  of  ancient  na- 
tions, of  zuhich  e7'cry  individual  ivas  eager  to  throw  a  stone 
upon  the  grave  of  a  departed  Hero,  and  thus  to  share  in  the 
pious  office  of  erecting  an  honourable  monument  to  his  mem- 
ory: 

'  How  much  delighted  would  Boswell  have  been,  had  he  been  shewn 
the  following  passage,  recorded  by  Miss  Burney,  in  an  account  she 
gives  of  a  conversation  with  the  Oueen  : — The  Queen  : — '  Miss  Bur- 
ney, have  you  heard  that  Boswell  is  going  to  publish  a  life  of  your 
friend  Dr.  Johnson  ?'  '  No,  ma'am  ! '  'I  tell  you  as  I  heard,  I  don't 
know  for  the  truth  of  it,  and  I  can't  tell  what  he  will  do.  He  is  so 
extraordinary  a  man  that  perhaps  he  will  devise  something  extraor- 
dinary.' Mnic.  D'Arbtays  Diary,  ii.  400.  •  Dr.  Johnson's  history,' 
wrote  Horace  Walpole.  on  June  20,  1785,  'though  he  is  going  to  have 
as  many  lives  as  a  cat,  might  be  reduced  to  four  lines  ;  but  I  shall  wait 
to  extract  the  quintessence  till  Sir  John  Hawkins,  Madame  Piozzi,  and 
Mr.  Boswell  have  produced  their  quartos.'  Horace  Walpole's  Letters, 
viii.  557. 

'  The  delay  was  in  part  due  to  Boswell's  dissipation  and  place-hunt- 
ing, as  is  shewn  by  the  following  passages  in  his  Letters  to  Temple : — 
Feb.  24,  1788,  I  have  been  wretchedly  dissipated,  so  that  I  have  not 

The 


Advertisement  to  the  First  Edition. 


The  labour  and  anxious  attention  with  'ultiih  I  /tare  col- 
lected and  arranged  the  materials  of  which  these  volumes  are 
composed,  will  hardly  he  conceived  by  those  who  read  them  with 
careless  facility.^  The  stretch  of  mind  and  prompt  assiduity 
by  which  so  ttiany  conversations  were  preserved^  /  myself,  at 

wriiieii  ;i  line  for  a  forlnijjht.  p.  :66.  •  Nov.  28,  1789.  Malonc's  hov 
pitality.  and  my  otlicr  invitations,  and  jiartirularly  my  attendance  at 
Lorfl  Lonsdale's,  have  lost  us  many  eveninjjs.'  lb.  p.  311.  "June  21. 
lyyo.  How  unfortunate  to  be  oblijjed  to  interrupt  my  work!  Never 
was  a  poor  ambitious  projector  more  mortified.  I  am  suffering 
without  any  prospect  of  reward,  and  only  froni  my  own  folly."  lb. 
p.  326. 

'  'You  cannot  imagine  what  labour,  what  perplexity,  what  vexation 
I  have  endured  in  arranging  a  prodigious  multiplicity  of  materials, 
in  supplying  omissions,  in  searching  for  paper>.  buried  in  dillerrnl 
masses,  and  all  this  Inrsides  the  exertion  of  composing  and  polishing: 
many  a  time  have  1  thought  of  giving  it  up.'  l.ttten  of  Bortv/ll, 
p.  311 

'  Hoswcll  writing  to  Temple  in  1775,  says.  "  I  tr>tokeepa  journal, 
and  shall  shew  you  that  I  have  done  tolerably ;  but  it  is  hardly  credi- 
ble what  ground  I  go  over,  and  what  a  variety  of  men  and  manners  t 
contemplate  in  a  day;  and  all  the  time  I  myself  am  />«jrj  magna,  for 
my  exuberant  spirits  will  not  let  me  listen  enough.'  lb.  p.  188.  Mr. 
Barclay  .said  that  "he  had  seen  Jk)swi-ll  lay  down  his  knife  and  fork, 
and  take  out  his  tablets,  in  order  to  register  a  good  anecdote.'  Crokcr's 
Hor^L'cll.  p.  837.  The  account  given  by  F'aoli  to  Miss  Rurney.  shows 
that  very  early  in  life  Boswell  took  out  his  tablets : — *  He  came  to  my 
country,  and  he  fetched  me  some  letter  of  recommending  him ;  but  I 
was  of  the  l>clief  he  might  Iw  an  impostor,  and  I  supposed  in  my  mintc 
he  was  an  espy;  for  I  look  away  from  him. and  in  a  moment  I  IcHjk  to 
him  again,  and  I  behold  his  tablets.  Oh  !  he  was  to  the  work  of  writing 
down  all  I  siiy.  Indeed  I  was  angry.  But  soon  I  discover  he  was  no 
impostor  and  no  espy :  and  I  only  find  I  was  myself  the  monster  he 
had  come  to  discern.  Oh  I  he  is  a  very  good  man  ;  I  love  him  indeed  ; 
so  cheerful,  so  gay.  so  pleasant !  but  at  the  first,  oh  !  I  was  indeed  an- 
gry." Mute.  I)'Arb/ay\<!  Diary,  ii.  155.  Boswell  not  only  recorded  the 
conversations,  he  often  stimulated  them.  On  one  occasion  "he  as- 
sumed," he  said,  "an  air  of  ignorance  to  incite  Dr.  Johnson  to  talk,  for 
which  it  was  often  necessary  to  employ  some  address.'  See  pest,  April 
12.  1776.  "Tom  Tyers.'  said  Johnson,  "described  me  the  best.  He 
once  said  to  me,  "  Sir.  you  arc  like  a  ghost :  you  never  speak  till  you 
vc  spoken  to.""     BoswcH's  Hebrides.  Aug.  20.  1773.     Boswell  wntin|f 

SOffU 


Advertisemejit  to  the  First  Edition. 


some  distance  of  time,  contemplate  zvith  wonder ;  and  I  nmst 
be  allowed  to  suggest,  that  the  nature  of  the  work,  in  other  re- 
spects, as  it  consists  of  innumerable  detached  particulars,  all 
which,  even  the  most  minute,  1  have  spared  no  pains  to  ascertain 
with  a  scrupulous  authenticity,  has  occasioned  a  degree  of  trou- 
ble far  beyond  that  of  any  other  species  of  composition.  Were 
1  to  detail  the  books  which  I  have  consulted,  and  the  inquiries 
which  f  have  found  it  iiecessary  to  make  by  various  channels,  I 
should  probably  be  thought  ridiculously  ostentatious.  Let  me 
only  observe,  as  a  speci))ien  of  my  trouble,  that  I  have  sometimes 
been  obliged  to  run  half  o^'cr  London,  in  order  to  fix  a  date  cor- 
rectly ;  which,  when  I  had  acco))iplished,  I  well  kneiv  would 
obtain  me  no  praise,  though  a  failure  would  have  been  to  my 
discredit.  And  after  all,  perhaps,  hard  as  it  may  be,  I  shall 
not  be  surprized  if  omissions  or  mistakes  be  pointed  out  ivith 
invidious  severity.  I  have  also  been  extremely  careful  as  to  the 
exactness  of  my  quotations ;  holding  that  there  is  a  respect  due 
to  the publick  which  should  oblige  every  Author  to  attend  to 
this,  and  )iever  to  presume  to  introduce  them  with, — '  I  think 
I  have  read;' — or, — 'If  I  remember  right;' — ivhen  the  orig- 
inals may  be  examined^ 

of  this  Tour  said  : — '  I  also  may  be  allowed  to  claim  some  merit  in 
leading  the  conversation  ;  I  do  not  mean  leading,  as  in  an  orchestra, 
by  playing  the  first  fiddle;  but  leading  as  one  does  in  examining  a 
witness — starting  topics,  and  making  him  pursue  them.'  lb.  Sept.  28. 
One  day  he  recorded  :— '  I  did  not  exert  myself  to  get  Dr.  Johnson  to 
talk,  that  I  might  not  have  tne  labour  of  writing  down  his  conversa- 
tion.' //'.  Sept.  7.  His  indu^ry  grew  much  less  towards  the  close  of 
Johnson's  life.  Under  May  &,  1781.  he  records  :— •  Of  his  conversation 
on  that  and  other  occasions  during  this  period.  I  neglected  to  keep 
any  regular  record.'  On  May  i  5.  1783  :— '  I  have  no  minute  of  any  in- 
terview with  Johnson  [from  May  i]  till  May  15.'  May  is.  1784:  — 
'  Of  these  days  and  others  on  which  I  saw  him  I  have  no  memo- 
rials." 

'  It  is  an  interesting  question  how  far  Boswell  derived  his  love  of 
truth  from  himself,  ami  how  far  from  Johnson's  training.  He  was  one 
of  Johnson's  scliool.  He  himself  quotes  Reynolds's  observation. '  that 
all  who  were  of  his  si/iool  are  distinguished  for  a  love  of  truth  and  ac- 
curacy, which  they  would  not  have  possessed  in  the  >>uuiq  degree  if 

L  beg 


8  Advert isemoit  lo  llu    Firs/  Jidition. 

I  bijr  leave  to  express  my  wannest  thanks  to  those  who  have 
been  pleased  to  favour  me  with  eommunieations  and  adviee  in 
the  eondnet  of  my  Work.  Hut  f  cannot  sufficiently  aekniKvled^e 
my  oblii^ations  to  my  friend  Mr.  Malonc,  'who  was  so  }:;ood  as 
to  allow  me  to  read  to  him  almost  the  whole  of  my  manuscript, 
and  make  such  remarks  as  were  jrreatly  for  the  advantage  of 
the  \\'ork\-  thoui^h  it  is  but  fair  to  him  to  mention,  that  upon 
many  occasions  I  dilfercd  from  him,  and  folliKced  my  tnon 
Judi^ement.  f  ret^ret  exceediujrly  that  I  was  deprived  of  the 
benefit  of  his  revision,  when  not  more  than  one  half  of  the  book 
had  passed  throuy^h  the  press  ;  but  after  haviny;^  completed  his 
very  laborious  and  admirable  edition  of  Shakspcarc.yor  which 
he  y;cncronsly  would  accept  of  no  other  reward  but  that  fame 
which  he  has  so  deservedly  obtained,  he  fulfilled  his  promise 
of  a  long-wished-for  visit  to  his  relations  in  Ireland ;  from 
whence  his  safe  return  finibus  Atticis  is  desired  by  his  friends 
here,  with  all  the  classical  ardour  of  Sic  tc  Diva  potcns 
Cypri';  for  there  is  no  man  in  'whom  more  clci^ant  and  wor- 
thy ijualities  are  united ;  and  whose  society,  therefore,  is  more 
valued  by  those  who  know  him. 

It  is  painful  to  me  to  think,  that  while  I  was  carrying  on 
this  Work,  several  of  those  to  whom  it  -would  have  been  most 
interesting  have  died.  Such  melancholy  disappointments  TiV 
know  to  be  incident  to  humanity  :  but  we  do  not  feel  them  the 

they  had  not  been  acquainted  with  Johnson"  {post,  under  March  30. 
1778).  Writing  to  Temple  in  1789.  he  said: — 'Johnson  tau.ijhi  me  to 
cross-question  in  common  hfe.'  Letters  of  Bosuu-ll,  p.  280.  His  quota- 
tions, nevertheless,  are  not  unfrequently  inaccurate.  Yet  to  him  might 
fairly  be  applied  the  words  that  Gibbon  used  of  Tillemont : — '  His  in- 
imitable accuracy  almost  assumes  the  character  of  genius.'  Gibbon's 
Misc.  Works,  i.  213. 

'  '  The  revision  of  my  Life  of  Johnson,  by  so  acute  and  knowing  a 
critic  as  Mr.  Malone.  is  of  most  essential  consequence,  especially  as  he 
is  Johnsonianissimus'  Liters  of  Boswelt.  p.  310.  A  few  weeks  earlier 
he  had  written  : — '  Yesterday  afternoon  Malone  and  I  made  ready  for 
the  press  thirty  pages  of  Johnsons  Life :  he  is  much  pleased  with  it ; 
but  I  feel  a  sad  indifference  fhe  had  lately  lost  his  wife],  and  he  says 
I  have  not  the  use  of  my  faculties.'      Id.  p.  308. 

'  Horace.  Odes,  i.  3.  i. 

less 


AdvcrUsaiuul  to  llu   J'lnl  Edilion.^ 

k^s  Lc,  mc  t«rtia,larty  lament  the  Reverend  Thomas  War- 
Ton  and  tlu-  Reverend  Dr.  Adams.  Mr.  Warton,  awul.lu. 
Zuy  fgemus  and  learning,  '.as  an  e.eellent  Bjraplur 
ZZ/rL,o,n  to  my  Colleetion  arc  '^"(y  "'^"^^ i^^^f, 
as  he  had  a  trne  rel.sh  of  v,y  Tom  to  the  Hebrides  //r,«/ 
Lud  no.,  have  been  gratified  '.ith  a  l^rS^:;''2;i%'j'' 
al,t,robation.  Dr.  Adams,  eminent  as  the  Head  of  a  Colegt , 
Tat  iter',  and  as  a  most  amiaite  man.  had  ^«.'^«  Johnson 

Lson  I  had  to  Iwpe  for  the  eonnteuanee  <-/  /^«  '  ~ 
Gentleman  to  this  Work,  will  appear  from  what  he  ar«/<  « 
tr^«  a  former  oeeasion  from  Cford  Noveml>cr  .7,  7^^ 
1'^..  S(r.  1  hazard  this  letter,  not  ^--"g;'^-^  "^ 
find  vou  to  thank  you  for  your  very  agreeable  7V./ n  «  men 
'  old  h^  on  my'  return  from  the  country  and  m  wh>d 
vnn  h  ive  depicted  our  friend  so  perfectly  to  my  fancy,  1 
'^vervtttitude  every  scene  and  situation,  that  I  have  thought 

Ld  been  a  little  more  ^;^-^^:r;^^ 
:rrj:hn:ont:th°orC,aT  in  history  al,  ought  to  be 

"  W,  .  sanction  to  my  faenlty  ofSf'S^f^^-f^;;;^ 
Hon  of  Dr.  J  ohnson  /  eonld  not  concee..    f'^     ^l        PP ^^^^_ 

mv  satisfaction  in  the  '<>''''><>"f"''''f.'^^"%^^  brightest 
slderable  a  portion  of  the  -wisdom  and  wit  of   the       . 

,  He  had  published  an  answer  to  Hume's  Essay  on  Miracles.    See 

post,  March  20,  1 776.  Orrerv  to  expose  the  defects 

^  > .  Macleod  asked  if  it  was  not  wrong  m  Orrery  to  exp  ^^^ 

Hebrides,  Sept.  22.  1773-     See  also /..A  Sept.  17.  1777-  ^^^^^^^^ 


lo  Advertisement  to  the  First  Edition. 

ornament  of  the  eighteenth  century','  I  have  largely  provided 
for  the  itistruetion  and  entertainment  of  mankind. 

London,  April  20,  1791*. 

'  See  Mr.  Malone's  Preface  to  his  edition  of  Shakspeare.   Boswell. 

'  '  April  6,  1 791. 

'  My  Life  of  Johtison  is  at  last  drawing  to  a  close  ...  I  really  hope 
to  publish  it  on  the  25th  current  ...  I  am  at  present  in  such  bad 
spirits  that  I  have  ev^ery  fear  concerning  it — that  I  may  get  no  profit, 
nay,  may  lose — that  the  Public  may  be  disappointed,  and  think  that  I 
have  done  it  poorly — that  I  may  make  many  enemies,  and  even  have 
quarrels.  Yet  perhaps  the  very  reverse  of  all  this  may  happen.'  Let- 
ters of  Boswell,  p.  335. 

'  August  22,  1 791. 

'  My  viagmim  opus  sells  wonderfully  ;  twelve  hundred  are  now  gone, 
and  we  hope  the  whole  seventeen  hundred  may  be  gone  before  Christ- 
mas.'    lb.  p.  342. 

Malone  in  his  Preface  to  the  fourth  edition,  dated  June  20,  1804, 
says  that  '  near  four  thousand  copies  have  been  dispersed.'  The  first 
edition  was  in  2  vols.,  quarto  ;  the  second  (1793)  in  3  vols.,  octavo  ;  the 
third  (1799),  the  fourth  (1804),  the  fifth  (1807).  and  the  sixth  (181 1), 
were  each  in  4  vols.,  octavo.  The  last  four  were  edited  by  Malone, 
Boswell  having  died  while  he  was  preparing  notes  for  the  third 
edition. 


ADVERTISEMENT 

TO  THE 

SECOND  EDITION. 


That  I  was  ayixious  for  the  success  of  a  Work  which  had 
employed  vnich  of  7>iy  time  and  labour,  I  do  not  ivisJi  to  con- 
ceal:  but  whatever  doubts  I  at  any  time  entertained,  have  been 
entirely  removed  by  the  very  favourable  reception  with  which 
it  has  been  honoured'.  That  reception  has  excited  my  best  exer- 
tions to  render  my  Book  more  perfect ;  and  in  this  endeavour 
I  have  had  the  assistance  not  only  of  some  of  my  particular 
friends,  but  of  many  other  learned  and  ingenious  men,  by 
which  I  have  been  enabled  to  rectify  some  mistakes,  atid  to  en- 
rich the  Work  with  many  valuable  additions.  These  I  have 
ordered  to  be  printed  separately  in  q%iarto,for  the  accommoda- 
tioji  of  the  purchasers  of  the  first  edition  ^  May  I  be  permit- 
ted to  say  that  the  typography  of  both  editions  does  honour  to 
the  press  of  Mr.  Henry  Baldwin,  noiv  Master  of  the  Worship- 
ful Company  of  Stationers,  whom  I  hai'c  long  known  as  a 
worthy  vtati  and  an  obliging  friend. 

In  the  strangely  mixed  scenes  of  human  existence,  our  feel- 
ings are  often  at  once  pleasing  and  painful.  Of  this  truth, 
the  progress  of  the  present  W^ork  furnishes  a  striking  instance. 
It  was  highly  gratifying  to  tne  that  ))iy  friend,  Sir  Joshua 

'  'Burke  affirmed  that  Boswell's  Life  was  a  greater  monument  to 
Johnson's  fame  than  all  his  writings  put  together.'  Life  of  Mackin- 
tosh, i.  92. 

*  It  is  a  pamphlet  of  forty-two  pages,  under  the  title  of  T/ie  Princi- 
pal Corrections  and  Additions  to  the  First  Edition  of  Mr.  Bos^uell's  L.ife 
of  Dr.  Johnson.     Price  two  shillings  and  sixpence. 

Reynolds, 


12  Advertisement  to  the  Second  Edition, 

Reynolds,  to  ivJiom  it  is  inscribed,  lived  to  peruse  it,  and  to 
give  the  strongest  testimony  to  its  fidelity  ;  but  before  a  second 
edition,  which  he  contributed  to  improve,  conld  be  finished,  the 
world  has  been  deprived  of  that  vwst  valuable  man ';  a  loss  of 
which  the  regret  zvill  be  deep,  and  lasting.^  and  extensive,  pro- 
portionate to  the  felicity  which  he  diffused  through  a  wide 
circle  of  admirers  and  friends'^ . 

In  reflecting  that  the  illustrious  subject  oj  this  Work,  by  be- 
ing more  extensively  and  intimately  known,  however  elevated 
before,  has  risen  in  the  veneration  and  love  of  mankind,  I  feel 
a  satisfaction  beyond  ivhat  fame  can  afford.  We  cannot,  in- 
deed, too  much  or  too  often  admire  his  zuonderfu I  powers  of 
mind,  when  toe  consider  that  the  principal  store  of  zvit  and 
wisdom  which  tJiis  Work  contains,  ivas  not  a  particular  selcc- 
Hon  from  his  general  conversation,  but  was  merely  Ids  occa- 
uonal  talk  at  such  times  as  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  in  his 
company';  and,  without  doubt,  if  his  discourse  at  other  periods 

'  Reynolds  died  on  Feb.  23,  1792. 

-  Sir  Joshua  in  his  will  left  ^200  to  Mr.  Boswell  '  to  be  expended,  if 
he  thought  proper,  in  the  purchase  of  a  picture  at  the  sale  of  his  paint- 
ings, to  be  kept  for  his  sake.'     Taylor's  Reynolds,  ii.  636. 

2  Of  the  seventy-five  years  that  Johnson  lived,  he  and  Boswell  did 
not  spend  two  years  and  two  months  in  the  same  neighbourhood. 
Excluding  the  time  they  were  together  on  their  tour  to  the  Hebri- 
des, they  were  dwelling  within  reach  of  each  other  a  few  weeks  less 
than  two  years.  Moreover,  when  they  were  apart,  there  were  great 
gaps  in  their  correspondence.  Between  Dec.  8,  1763,  and  Jan.  14,  1766, 
and  again  between  Nov.  10,  1769,  and  June  20,  1771,  during  which  pe- 
riods they  did  not  meet,  Boswell  did  not  receive  a  single  letter  from 
Johnson.  The  following  table  shows  the  times  they  were  in  the  same 
neighbourhood. 

1763,  May  16  to  Aug.  6 London. 

1766,  a  few  days  in  February 

1768,  ,,         „       March Oxford. 

1768 May Londori. 

1769,  end  of  Sept.  to  Nov.  10 

1772,  March  21  to  about  May  10,  ...     . 

1773,  April  3  to  May  10, 

Aug.  14  to  Nov.  22 Scotland. 

1775,  March  ^\  to  April  18,  May  2  to  May  23,  London. 

had 


Ailvertisement  to  the  Second  Editio7i.  13 

Jiad  bcoi  collected  zvith  the  same  attention,  the  zvhole  tenor  of 
zvhat  he  uttered  would  have  been  found  equally  excellent. 

His  strong,  clear,  and  animated  enforcement  of  religion, 
morality,  loyalty,  and  subordination,  wJiile  it  delights  and  im- 
proves the  zi'isc  and  the  good,  will,  I  trust,  prove  an  effectual 
antidote  to  that  detestable  sophistry  which  has  been  lately  im- 
ported from  France,  under  the  false  name  of  Philosophy,  and 
with  a  malignant  industry  has  been  employed  against  the  peace, 
good  order,  and  happiness  of  society,  in  our  free  and  prosperous 
country;  but  thanks  be  to  GOD,  without  producing  the  perni- 
cious effects  zuhich  were  hoped  for  by  its  propagators. 

It  seems  to  me,  in  my  mojnents  of  self-complacency,  that  this 
extensive  biographical  ivork,  hozvever  inferior  in  its  nature, 
may  in  one  respect  be  assimilated  to  the  Odyssey.  Amidst  a 
thousand  entertaining  and  instructive  episodes  the  Hero  is 
never  long  out  of  sight ;  for  they  are  all  i)i  some  degree  con- 
nected tuith  him  ;  and  He,  /;/  tJie  whole  course  of  the  History, 
is  exhibited  by  the  A  ut  hour  for  the  best  advantage  of  his  readers. 

'  —  Quid  virtus  et  quid  sapientia  possit, 
Utile  proposuit  nobis  exemplar  Ulyssen'.' 

Should  there  be  any  cold-blooded  and  morose  mortals  wJio 
really  dislike  this  Book,  I  zuill  give  them  a  story  to  apply. 

]  London, 

1776,  March  15  to  May  16,  with  an  inter-  j  Oxford, 

val  of  about  a  fortnight,  when  John-  |  Birmingham, 

son  was   at    Bath    and    Boswell   at  Lichfield, 

London Ashbourne, 

J  and  Bath. 

1777,  Sept.  14  to  Sept.  24, Ashbourne. 

1778,  March  18  to  May  19 London. 

1779,  March  15  to  May  3 

„      Oct.  4  to  Oct.  18 

1781,  March  19  to  June  5,     .     .  London  and  Southill. 

1783,  March  21  to  May  30, London. 

1784,  May  5  to  June  30,     .     .     .  London  and  Oxford. 

'  To  shew  what  wisdom  and  what  sense  can  do. 
The  poet  sets  Ulysses  in  our  view.' 

Francis.     Horace,  Ep.  i.  2.  17. 
■"■■■     ■  When 


14  Advertisement  to  the  Second  Edition. 

WJicn  tJie  great  Duke  of  Marlborough,  accompanied  by  Lord 
Cadogan,  was  one  day  reconnoitering  the  army  in  Flanders,  a 
heavy  rain  came  on,  and  they  both  called  for  their  cloaks. 
Lord  Cadogan's  servant,  a  good  hmnoured  alert  lad,  brought 
his  Lordship's  in  a  minute.  The  Duke's  servant,  a  lazy  sulky 
dog,  was  so  sluggish,  that  his  Grace  being  wet  to  the  skin,  re- 
proved him,  and  had  for  ansiver  with  a  grunt,  '  /  came  as 
fast  as  I  could'  upon  ivhich  the  Duke  calmly  said,  '  Cadogan, 
I  woidd  not  for  a  thousand  pounds  have  that  fellow's  temper.' 
There  are  some  men,  I  believe,  who  have,  or  thi)ik  they  have, 
a  very  small  share  of  vanity.  Such  juay  speak  of  their  liter- 
ary fame  in  a  decorous  style  of  diffidence.  But  I  confess,  that 
I  am  so  formed  by  nature  and  by  habit,  that  to  restrain  the 
effusion  of  delight,  on  having  obtained  such  fame,  to  me  would 
be  truly  painfid.  Why  then  should  I  suppress  it  /  Why  'out 
of  the  abundance  of  the  heart '  should  I  not  speak '  /  Let  me 
then  mention  luitJi  a  warm,  but  no  insolent  exultation,  that  I 
have  been  regaled  with  spontaneous  praise  of  my  work  by 
viany  and  various  persons  eminent  for  their  rank,  learning, 
talents  and  accomplishments ;  much  of  which  praise  I  have 
under  their  hands  to  be  reposited  in  my  archives  at  Auchin- 
leck\  An  honourable  and  reverend  friend  speaking  of  the 
favourable  reception  of  my  volumes,  even  in  the  circles  of 
fashion  and  elegance,  said  to  me,  'you  have  made  them  all 
talk  Johnson' —  Yes,  I  may  add,  I  have  Johnsonised  the  land  ; 
and  /  trust  they  ivill  not  only  talk,  but  \\\\\\V,  Johnson. 

To  enumerate  those  to  zvhom  I  have  been  thus  indebted, 
would  be  tediously  ostentatious.  I  cannot  however  but  na>ne 
one  wliose  praise  is  truly  valuable,  not  only  on  account  of  his 
knoivledge  and  abilities,  but  on  account  of  the  magnif  cent,  yet 

'  In  his  Letter  to  the  People  of  Scotland,  p.  92,  he  wrote: — 'Allow 
me,  my  friends  and  countrymen,  while  I  with  honest  zeal  maintain 
your  cause — allow  me  to  indulge  a  little  more  my  OT.vn  cgotistn  and 
vanity.  They  are  the  indigenous  plants  of  my  mind  ;  they  distinguish 
it.  I  may  prune  their  luxuriancy  ;  but  I  must  not  entirely  clear  it  of 
them ;  for  then  I  should  be  no  longer  "  as  I  am ;"  and  perhaps  there 
might  be  something  not  so  good.' 

'  Sec  post,  April  17,  1778,  note. 

dangerous 


Adveriisenicut  to  the  Seco7id  Edition.  15 

dangerous  embassy,  in  zvliich  he  is  now  employed^,  which  makes 
every  thing  that  relates  to  him  peculiarly  interesting.  Lord 
Macartney  favoured  me  with  his  oivn  copy  of  )ny  book,  with 
a  number  of  notes,  of  ivhich  I  have  availed  myself.  On  the 
first  leaf  I  found  in  his  Lordship's  hand-writing,  a7i  inscrip- 
tion of  such  high  commendation,  that  even  I,  vain  as  I  am, 
cannot  prevail  on  myself  to  publish  it. 

[Juiy  I.  I793'-] 

'  Lord  Macartney  was  the  first  English  ambassador  to  the  Court  of 
Pekin.     He  left  England  in  1792  and  returned  in  1794. 

•  Boswell  writing  to  Temple  ten  days  earlier  had  said  :  — '  Behold 
my  hand !  the  robbery  is  only  of  a  few  shillings ;  but  the  cut  on  my 
head  and  bruises  on  my  arms  were  sad  things,  and  confined  me  to 
bed,  in  pain,  and  fever,  and  helplessness,  as  a  child,  many  days.  .  .  . 
This  shall  be  a  crisis  in  my  life  :  I  trust  I  shall  henceforth  be  a  sober 
regular  man.  Indeed,  my  indulgence  in  wine  has,  of  late  years  espe- 
cially, been  excessive.'     Letters  of  Boswell,  p.  346. 


ADVERTISEMENT 

TO    THE 

THIRD   EDITION. 

Several  valuable  letters,  and  other  curious  matter,  having 
been  eonnnunicateel  to  the  Author  too  late  to  be  arranged  in 
that  chronologieal  order  which  he  had  endeavoured  uniformly 
to  observe  in  his  work,  he  was  obliged  to  introduce  them  in  his 
Second  Edition,  by  loay  of  Addenda,  as  commodiously  as  he 
could.  In  the  present  edition  these  have  been  distributed  in 
their  proper  places.  In  revising  his  volumes  for  a  new  edi- 
tion, he  had  pointed  out  luhere  some  of  these  materials  should 
be  inserted ;  but  unfortunately  in  the  midst  of  his  labours,  he 
was  seised  zvitJi  a  fever,  of  wJiicJi,  to  the  great  regret  of  all  his 
friends,  he  died  on  the  \gth  of  May,  1795'.     All  the  Notes 

'  On  this  day  his  brother  wrote  to  Mr.  Temple :  '  I  have  now  the 
painful  task  of  informing  you  that  my  dear  brother  expired  this  morn- 
ing at  two  o'clock ;  we  have  both  lost  a  kind,  afifectionate  friend,  and 
I  shall  never  have  such  another.'  Letters  of  Boswell,  p.  357.  What 
was  probably  Boswell's  last  letter  is  as  follows  : — 

'  My  dear  Temple, 

'  I  would  fain  write  to  you  in  my  own  hand,  but  really  cannot. 
[These  words,  which  are  hardly  legible,  and  probably  the  last  poor 
Boswell  ever  wrote,  afford  the  clearest  evidence  of  his  utter  physical 
prostration.)  Alas,  my  friend,  what  a  state  is  this !  My  son  James  is 
to  write  for  me  what  remains  of  this  letter,  and  I  am  to  dictate.  The 
pain  which  continued  for  so  many  weeks  was  very  severe  indeed,  and 
when  it  went  ofif  I  thought  myself  quite  well ;  but  I  soon  felt  a  convic- 
tion that  I  was  by  no  means  as  I  should  be — so  exceedingly  weak,  as 
my  miserable  attempt  to  write  to  you  afforded  a  full  proof.  All  then 
that  can  be  said  is,  that  I  must  wait  with  patience.  But,  O  my  friend  ! 
I, — 2  that 


1 8  Advertisement  to  the   Third  Edition. 

that  he  had  zvrittcn  in  the  margin  of  the  copy  which  he  Iiad 
in  part  revised,  are  here  faithfully  preserved ;  and  a  few  new 
Notes  have  been  added,  principally  by  some  of  those  friends  to 
zvhom  the  Author  in  the  former  editions  acknowledged  his  ob- 
ligations. Those  subscribed  with  the  letter  B,  were  communi- 
cated by  Dr.  Burney :  those  to  ivJiich  the  letters  J  B  arc 
annexed,  by  the  Rev.  J.  Blakcway,  of  Shrewsbury,  to  zvhom 
Mr.  Boswell  acknoivledged  himself  indebted  for  some  judicious 
remarks  on  the  first  edition  of  his  zvork :  and  the  letters  J 
B — O.  are  annexed  to  some  remarks  furnished  by  the  Author  s 
second  son,  a  Student  of  Brazen-Nose  College  in  Oxford.  Some 
valuable  observations  were  communicated  by  James  Bindley, 
Esq.  First  Commissioner  in  the  Stamp-Office,  whicli  have  been 
acknowledged  in  their  proper  places.  For  all  those  zvithout 
any  signature,  Mr.  Malone  is  anszverable. — Every  new  remark, 
not  writteti  by  the  Author,  for  the  sake  of  distinction  has  been 
enclosed  luithin  crotchets  :  in  one  instance,  hoiccver,  the  printer 
by  jnistake  has  affixed  this  mark  to  a  note  relative  to  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Fysche  Palmer,  zvhicJi  was  written  by  Mr.  Boswell, 
and  therefore  ought  not  to  have  been  thus  distinguished. 

I  have  only  to  add,  that  the  proof-sheets  of  the  present  edi- 
tion not  havifig passed  through  my  haiids,  I  atn  not  answerable 
for  any  typographical  errours  that  may  be  found  in  it.  Hav- 
ing, Jiozvever,  been  printed  at  the  very  accurate  press  of  Mr. 
Baldwin,  I  make  no  doubt  it  will  be  found  not  less  perfect  than 
the  former  edition  ;  the  greatest  care  having  been  taken,  by 
correctness  and  elegance  to  do  justice  to  one  of  the  most  in- 
structive and  entertaitiing  works  in  the  English  language. 

EDMOND   MALONE'. 

April  8,  1 799. 

how  strange  is  it  that,  at  this  very  time  of  my  illness,  you  and  Miss 
Temple  should  have  been  in  such  a  dangerous  state.  Much  occasion 
for  thankfulness  is  there  that  it  has  not  been  worse  with  you.  Pray 
write,  or  make  somebody  write  frequently.  I  feel  myself  a  good  deal 
stronger  to-day,  notwithstanding  the  scrawl.  God  bless  you,  my  dear 
Temple  !  I  ever  am  your  old  and  affectionate  friend,  here  and  I  trust 
hereafter.  James  Boswell.'    Letters  of  Boswell, '^.  j^y^. 

'   Malone  died  on  May  25,  181 2. 


A 

CHRONOLOGICAL    CATALOGUE 

OF   THE 

PROSE    WORKS'    OF  SAMUEL    JOHNSON,  LL.D. 

[N.  B.  To  those  which  he  himself  acknowledged  is  added  ac- 
know/.  To  those  which  may  be  fully  believed  to  be  his  from  in- 
ternal evidence,  is  added  intern,  evid.'] 

1735.    Abridgement  and  translation  of  Lobo's  Voyage  to  Abys- 
sinia.   ackno7vL 

1738.  Part  of  a  translation  of  Father  Paul  Sarpi's  History  of  the 

Council  of  Trent,   achwivl. 
[N.  B.     As  this  work  after  some  sheets  were  printed,  suddenly 
stopped,  I  know  not  whether  any  part  of  it  is  now  to  be  found.] 

For  the  Gentleman's  Magazine. 
Preface,   intern,  ex'id. 
Life  of  Father  Paul,    acknowl. 

1739.  A  complete  vindication  of  the  Licenser  of  the  Stage  from 

the  malicious  and  scandalous  aspersions  of  Mr.  Brooke, 
authour  of  Gustavus  Vasa,    acknowl. 

'  I  do  not  here  include  his  Poetical  Works ;  for,  excepting  his  Latin 
Translation  of  Pope's  Messiah,  his  London,  and  his  Vanity  0/ Hiimafi 
IVishes  imitated  from  Juvenal ;  his  Prologue  on  the  opening  of 
Drury-Lane  Theatre  by  Mr.  Garrick,  and  his  Irene,  a  Tragedy,  they  are 
very  numerous,  and  in  general  short ;  and  I  have  promised  a  complete 
edition  of  them,  in  which  I  shall  with  the  utmost  care  ascertain  their 
authenticity,  and  illustrate  them  with  notes  and  various  readings. 
BOSWELL.  Boswell's  meaning,  though  not  well  expressed,  is  clear 
enough.  Mr.  Croker  needlessly  suggests  that  he  wrote  '  they  are  fiot 
very  numerous.'  Boswell  a  second  time  {post,  under  Aug.  12,  1784, 
note)  mentions  his  intention  to  edit  Johnson's  poems.  He  died  with- 
out doing  it.     See  ^%q  post,  1750,  Boswell's  note  on  Addison's  style. 

Marmor 


20  A   Chronological  CatalogJie  of  the 


M armor  Norfolciense :  or,  an  Essay  on  an  ancient  prophetical 
inscription  in  monkish  rhyme,  lately  discovered  near 
Lynne  in  Norfolk  ;  by  Probus  Britannicus.  acknowl. 

For  the  Ge?itlefnan' s  Magazine. 

Life  of  Roerhaave.  achiowl. 

Address  to  the  Reader,  intern,  ei'id. 

Appeal  to  the  Publick  in  Behalf  of  the  Editor,  ifitern.  evid. 

Considerations  on  the  case  of  Ur.  Trapp's  Sermons ;  a 
plausible  attempt  to  prove  that  an  authour's  work  may  be 
abridged  without  injuring  his  property,  acknowl. 

1740.  For  the  Gentleman' s  Magazine. 
Preface,  intern,  evid. 

Life  of  Admiral  Drake,  acknowl. 
Life  of  Admiral  Blake,  acknowl. 
Life  of  Philip  Barretier.  ackno^vl. 
Essays  on  P^pitaphs.  acknojvl. 

1 741.  For  the  Gentleman^ s  Magazine. 
Preface,  intern,  evid. 

A  free  translation  of  the  Jests  of  Hierocles,  with  an  intro- 
duction, intern,  evid. 

Debate  on  the  Humble  Petition  and  Advice  of  the  Rump  Par- 
liament to  Cromwell  in  1657,  to  assume  the  Title  of  King  ; 
abridged,  methodized  and  digested,  intern,  evid. 

Translation  of  Abbe  Guyon's  Dissertation  on  the  Amazons. 
intern,  evid. 

Translation  of  Fontenelle's  Panegyrick  on  Dr.  Morin.  in- 
terfi.  evid. 

1742.  For  the  Gentleman's  Magazine. 
Preface,  intern,  evid. 

Essay  on  the  Account  of  the  Conduct  of  the  Duchess  of 

Marlborough.  ack7iowl. 
An  Account  of  the  Life  of  Peter  Burman.  acknowl. 
The  Life  of  Sydenham,  afterwards  prefixed  to  Dr.  Swan's 

edition  of  his  Works,  acknowl. 
Proposals  for  printing  6ibliotheca  Harleiana,  or  a  Catalogue 

of  the  Library  of  the  Earl  of  Oxford,  afterwards  prefixed 

to 


Prose   Works  of  Samuel  Johinon,  LL.D.       2 1 


to  the  first  Volume  of  that  Catalogue,  in  which  the  Latin 
Accounts  of  the  Books  were  written  by  him.  acknowl. 

Abridgement  intitled,  Foreign  History,  intern,  evid. 

Essay  on  the  Description  of  China,  from  the  French  of  Du 
Halde.  intern,  evid. 

1743.  Dedication  to  Dr.  Mead  of  Dr.  James's  Medicinal  Diction- 

ary, ifitern.  evid. 

For  the  Gentleman^ s  Magazine. 

Preface,  intern,  evid. 

Parliamentary  Debates  under  the  Name  of  Debates  in  the 
Senate  of  Lilliput,  from  Nov.  19,  1740,  to  Feb.  23,  1742-3, 
inclusive.  ack?iowl. 

Considerations  on  the  Dispute  between  Crousaz  and  War- 
burton  on  Pope's  Essay  on  Man.  intern,  evid. 

A  Letter  announcing  that  the  Life  of  Mr.  Savage  was  speed- 
ily to  be  published  by  a  person  who  was  favoured  with 
his  Confidence,  interti.  evid. 

Advertisement  for  Osborne  concerning  the  Harleian  Cata- 
logue. interJi.  evid. 

1744.  Life  of  Richard  Savage,  acknowl. 

Preface  to  the  Harleian  Miscellany,  acknowl. 

For  the  Gentlemari' s  Magazine. 
Preface,  intern,  evid. 

1745.  Miscellaneous  Observations  on  the  Tragedy  of  Macbeth, 

with  remarks  on  Sir  T.  H.'s  (Sir  Thomas  Hanmer's) 
Edition  of  Shakspeare,  and  proposals  for  a  new  Edition 
of  that  Poet,  acknowl. 

1747.  Plan  for  a  Dictionary  of  the  English  Language,  addressed 

to  Philip  Dormer,  Earl  of  Chesterfield,  acknowl. 

For  the  Geyitlemaji' s  Magazine. 

1748.  Life  of  Roscommon,  achwwl. 
Foreign  History,  November,  intern,  evid. 

For  Dodsley's  Preceptor. 

Preface,  acknowl. 

Vision  of  Theodore  the  Hermit,  acknowl. 
1750.    The  Rambler,  the  first  Paper  of  which  was  published  20th 

of 


22  A   Chronological  Catalogue  of  the 

of  March  this  year,  and  the  last  17th  of  March,  1752,  the 
day  on  which  Mrs.  Johnson  died.  acknoivL 

Letter  in  the  General  .Advertiser  to  excite  the  attention  of 
the  Publick  to  the  Performance  of  Coinus,  which  was 
next  day  to  be  acted  at  Drury-Lane  Playhouse  for  the 
Benefit  of  Milton's  Grandaughter.  ackno7ol. 

Preface  and  Postscript  to  Lauder's  Pamphlet  intitled,  '  An 
Essay  on  Milton's  Use  and  Imitation  of  the  Moderns  in 
his  Paradise  Lost.'  ackncnvl. 
1751.    Life  of  Cheynel  in   the  Miscellany  called  'The  Student.' 
acknotvl. 

Letter  for  Lauder,  addressed  to  the  Reverend  Dr.  John 
Douglas,  acknowledging  his  Fraud  concerning  Milton  in 
Terms  of  suitable  Contrition,  achiowl. 

Dedication  to  the  Earl  of  Middlesex  of  Mrs.  Charlotte  Len- 
nox's 'Female  Quixotte.'  intern,  evid.^ 

1753.  Dedication   to  John  Earl  of  Orrery,  of  Shakspeare   Illus- 

trated, by  Mrs.  Charlotte  Lennox,  acknowl. 
During  this  and  the  following  year  he  wrote  and  gave  to 
his  much  loved  friend  Dr.  Bathurst  the  Papers  in  the  Ad- 
venturer, signed  T.  acknowl. 

1754.  Life  of  Edw.  Cave  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  ackno^i'l. 

1755.  A  Dictionary,  with  a  Grammar  and  History,  of  the  Enc- 

LiSH  Language.  achio7vl. 
An  Account  of  an  Attempt  to  ascertain  the  Longitude  at 
Sea,  by  an  exact  Theory  of  the  Variations  of  the  Magnet- 
ical  Needle,  with  a  Table  of  the  Variations  at  the  most 
remarkable  Cities  in  Europe  from  the  year  1660  to  1680. 
acknowl.  This  he  wrote  for  Mr.  Zachariah  Williams,  an 
ingenious  ancient  Welch  Gentleman,  father  of  Mrs.  Anna 
Williams  whom  he  for  many  years  kindly  lodged  in  his 
House.  It  was  published  with  a  Translation  into  Italian 
by  Signor  Baretti.  In  a  Copy  of  it  which  he  presented 
to  the  Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford,  is  pasted  a  Character 
of  the  late  Mr.  Zachariah  Williams,  plainly  written  by 
Johnson,  intern,  tvid. 

1756.  An  Abridgement  of  his  Dictionary,  acknowl. 

Several   Essays    in   the  Universal  Visitor,  which   there    is 

'  The  Female  Quixote  was  published  in  1752.     Sec  post,  1762,  note. 

some 


Prose   Works  of  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D.        23 

some  difficulty  in  ascertaining.  All  that  are  marked  with 
two  Asterisks  have  been  ascribed  to  him,  although  I  am 
confident  from  internal  Evidence,  that  we  should  except 
from  these  '  The  Life  of  Chaucer,'  '  Reflections  on  the 
State  of  Portugal,'  and  '  An  Essay  on  Architecture  :'  And 
from  the  same  Evidence  I  am  confident  that  he  wrote 
'Further  Thoughts  on  Agriculture,'  and  'A  Dissertation 
on  the  State  of  Literature  and  Authours.'  The  Disser- 
tation on  the  Epitaphs  written  by  Pope  he  afterwards 
acknowledged,  and  added  to  his  '  Idler.' 
Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne  prefixed  to  a  new  Edition  of 
his  Christian  Morals,  achiowl. 

In  the  Literary  Magazine ;  or.  Universal  Review,  which  began  in 

January,  1756. 

His  Origmal  Essays  are 
Preliminary  Address,  intern,  evid. 
An   introduction   to   the    Political   State  of  Great  Britain. 

intern,  evid. 
Remarks  on  the  Militia  Bill,  ititcrn.  evid. 
Observations  on  his  Britannick  ALijesty's  Treaties  with  the 

Empress  of  Russia  and  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Cassel. 

interji.  evid. 
Observations  on  the  Present  State  of  Affairs,  intern,  evid. 
Memoirs  of  Frederick  \\\.  King  of  Prussia,  intern,  evid. 

In  the  same  Magazine  his  Reviews  are  of  the  following  books  : 
'Birch's  History  of  the  Royal  Society.' — 'Browne's  Chris- 
tian Morals.'  —  'Warton's  Essay  on  the  Writings  and 
Genius  of  Pope,  Vol.  I.'  —  'Hampton's  Translation  of 
Polybius.' — '  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  Arguments  in  Proof  of 
a  Deity.' — '  Borlase's  History  of  the  Isles  of  Scilly.' — 
'Home's  Experiments  on  Bleaching.' — 'Browne's  His- 
tory of  Jamaica.'  — 'Hales  on  Distilling  Sea  Waters, 
Ventilators  in  Ships,  and  curing  an  ill  Taste  in  Milk.' — 
'  Lucas's  Essay  on  Waters.'—'  Keith's  Catalogue  of  the 
Scottish  Bishops.'  — '  Philosophical  Transactions,  Vol. 
XLIX.'— '  Miscellanies  by  Elizabeth  Harrison.'— Evans's 
Map  and  Account  of  the  Middle  Colonies  in  America.' 

The 


24  A   Chronological  Catalogue  of  the 

— ' 'riic  Cadet,  a  Military  'i'rcatise.' — 'The  Conduct  of 
the  Ministry  rehiting  to  the  present  War  imixirtially  ex- 
amined.' intern,  cvid. 

'Mrs.  Lenno.x's  'IVansIation  of  Sully's  Memoirs." — 'Letter 
on  the  Case  of  Admiral  Hyng.' — 'Appeal  to  the  I'eople 
concerning  Admiral  l^yng.'  — '  Hanway's  Eight  Days' 
Journey,  and  Essay  on  'I'ea.' — '  Some  further  Particulars 
in  Relation  to  the  Case  of  Admiral  l>yng,  by  a  Centlcmati 
of  Oxford.'  aiknowl. 

Mr.  Jonas  Hanway  having  written  an  angry  Answer  to  the 
Review  of  his  Essay  on  Tea,  Johnson  in  the  same  Col- 
lection made  a  Reply  to  it.  acknowl.  This  is  the  only 
Instance,  it  is  believed,  when  he  condescended  to  take 
Notice  of  any  Thing  that  had  been  written  against  him  ; 
and  here  his  chief  Intention  seems  to  have  been  to  make 
Sport. 

Dedication  to  the  Earl  of  Rochford  of,  and  Preface  to,  Mr. 
Payne's  Introduction  to  the  Game  of  Draughts,  acknoivl. 

Introduction  to  the  London  Chronicle,  an  Evening  Paper 
which  still  subsists  with  deserved  credit,  acknowt. 

1757.  Speech  on  the  Subject  of  an  Address  to  the  Throne  after 

the  Expedition   to   Rochefort;   delivered  by  one   of   his 
Eriends  in  some  publick  Meeting  :   it  is  printed  in   the 
Gentleman's  Magazine  for  October  1785.  intern,  evid. 
The  first  two  Paragraphs  of  the   Preface   to   Sir  William 
Chambers's  Designs  of  Chinese  Buildings,  &c.  acknowl. 

1758.  Thk  Idlkr,  which  began  April  5,  in  this  year,  and  was  con- 

tinued till  April  5,  1760.  acknowl. 
An  Essay  on  the  Bravery  of  the  English  Common  Soldiers 
was  added  to  it  when  published  in  Volumes,  acknowl. 

1759.  Rasselas  Prince  of  Abyssinia,  a  Tale,  acknowl. 
Advertisement  for  the  Proprietors  of  the  Idler  against  cer- 
tain Persons  who  pirated  those  Papers  as  they  came  out 
singly  in  a  Newspaper  called  the  Universal  Chronicle  or 
Weekly  Gazette,  intern,  evid. 

For  Mrs.  Charlotte  Lennox's  English  Version  of  Brumoy, 
— 'A  Dissertation  on  the  Greek  Comedy,'  and  the  Gen- 
eral Conclusion  of  the  Rook,  intern,  eind. 

Introduction  to  the  World  Displayed,  a  Collection  of  Voy- 
ages and  Travels.  ack)nmiJ 

Three 


Prose  Works  of  Samuel  Jo fmson.LL.D.        25 

Three  Letters  in  the  Gazetteer,  concerning  the  best  plan  for 
Blackfriars  Bridge,  acknowl. 

1760.  Address  of  the  Painters  to  George  III.  on  his  Accession  to 

the  Throne,  intern,  evid. 
Dedication  of  Baretti's  Italian  and  English  Dictionary  to 

the  Marquis  of  Abreu,  then   Envoy-Extraordinary  from 

Spain  at  the  Court  of  Great-Britain.  i?itern.  evid. 
Review  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  of  Mr.  Tytler's  acute 

and  able  Vindication  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  acknowl. 
Introduction    to   the    Proceedings   of   the   Committee   for 

Cloathing  the  French  Prisoners,  acknowl. 

1 76 1.  Preface  to  Rolt's  Dictionary  of  Trade  and  Commerce,  ac- 

knowl. 
Corrections   and   Improvements  for  Mr.  Gwyn  the  Archi- 
tect's Pamphlet,  intitled  'Thoughts  on  the  Coronation  of 
George  III.'  ackiunul. 

1762.  Dedication   to  the   King  of  the  Reverend  Dr.  Kennedy's 

Complete  System  of  Astronomical  Chronology,  unfolding 

the  Scriptures,  Quarto  Edition,  acknowl. 
Concluding  Paragraph  of  that  Work,  intern,  evid. 
Preface  to  the  Catalogue  of  the  Artists'  Exhibition,  intern. 

evid. 

1763.  Character  of  Collins  in  the  Poetical  Calendar,  published  by 

Fawkes  and  Woty.  acknowl. 

Dedication  to  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  of  the  Edition  of 
Roger  Ascham's  English  Works,  published  by  the  Rev- 
erend Mr.  Bennet.  aclmowl. 

The  Life  of  Ascham,  also  prefixed  to  that  edition,  acknowl. 

Review  of  Telemachus,  a  Masque,  by  the  Reverend  George 
Graham  of  Eton  College,  in  the  Critical  Review,  ac- 
knowl. 

Dedication  to  the  Queen  of  Mr.  Hoole's  Translation  of 
Tasso.  acknowl. 

Account  of  the  Detection  of  the  Imposture  of  the  Cock- 
Lane  Ghost,  published  in  the  Newspapers  and  Gentle- 
man's Magazine,  acknowl. 

1764.  Part  of  a  Review  of  Grainger's  '  Sugar  Cane,  a  Poem,'  in  the 

London  Chronicle,  acknowl. 
Review  of  Goldsmith's  'i'raveller,  a  Poem,  in  the  Critica' 
Review,  acknowl. 

176.5. 


26  A  Chronological  Catalogue  of  the 


1765.  The  Plays  of  William  Shakspeare,  in  eight  volumes,  8vo. 

with  Notes,  acknowl. 

1766.  The  Fountains,  a  Fairy  Tale,  in  Mrs.  Williams's  Miscellanies. 

acknowl. 

1767.  Dedication  to  the  King  of  Mr.  Adams's  Treatise  on  the 

Globes,  acknowl. 

1769.  Character  of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Zachariah  Mudge,  in  the 

London  Chronicle.  ackno7ul. 

1770.  The  False  Alarm,  acknowl. 

177 1.  Thoughts  on  the  late  Transactions  respecting  Falkland's 

Islands,  acknowl. 

1772.  Defence  of  a  Schoolmaster;  dictated  to  me  for  the  House 

of  Lords,  acknowl. 
Argument  in  Support  of  the  Law  of  Vicious  Intromission; 
dictated  to  me  for  the  Court  of  Session  in  Scotland,  ac- 
knowl. 

1773.  Preface  to  Macbean's  '  Dictionary  of  Ancient  Geography.' 

acknowl. 
Argument  in  Favour  of  the  Rights  of  Lay  Patrons  ;  dictated 
to  me  for  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land. ack?iowl. 

1774.  The  Patriot,  acknowl. 

1775.  A  Journey  to  the  Western  Islands  of  Scotland,  acknowl. 
Proposals  for  publishing  the  Works  of  Mrs.  Charlotte  Len- 
nox, in  Three  Volumes  Quarto,  acknowl. 

Preface  to  Baretti's  Easy  Lessons  in  Italian  and  English. 
intern,  evid. 

Taxation  no  Tyranny;  an  Answer  to  the  Resolutions  and 
Address  of  the  American  Congress,  acknowl. 

Argument  on  the  Case  of  Dr.  Memis ;  dictated  to  me  for 
the  Court  of  Session  in  Scotland,  acknoivl. 

Argument  to  prove  that  the  Corporation  of  Stirling  was  cor- 
rupt ;  dictated  to  me  for  the  House  of  Lords,  acknowl. 

1776.  Argument  in  Support  of  the  Right  of  immediate,  and  per- 

sonal reprehension  from  the  Pulpit ;  dictated  to  me.  ac- 
knowl. 
Proposals  for  publishing  an  Analysis  of  the  Scotch  Celtick 
Language,  by  the  Reverend  William  Shaw,  acknowl. 

1777.  Dedication  to  the  King  of  the  Posthumous  Works  of  Dr. 

Pearce,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  acknowl. 

Additions 


Prose  Works  of  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D.        27 


Additions  to  the  Life  and  Character  of  that  Prelate ;  pre- 
fixed to  those  Works,  acknowl. 

Various  Papers  and  Letters  in  Favour  of  the  Reverend  Dr. 
Dodd.  acknowl. 

1780.  Advertisement  for  his  Friend   Mr.  Thrale   to  the  Worthy 

P^lectors  of  the  Borough  of  Southwark.  acknotvL 
The  first  Paragraph  of  Mr.  Thomas  Davies's  Life  of  Garrick. 
acknowl. 

1781.  Prefaces  Biographical  and  Critical  to  the  Works  of  the  most 

eminent  English  Poets;  afterwards  published   with   the 
Title  of  Lives  of  the  English  Poets*,  acknowl. 

Argument  on  the  Importance  of  the  Registration  of  Deeds ; 
dictated  to  me  for  an  Election  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  acknowl. 

On  the  Distinction  between  Tory  and  Whig;  dictated  to 
me.  acknowl. 

On  Vicarious  Punishments,  and  the  great  Propitiation  for 
the  Sins  of  the  W^orld,  by  Jesus  Christ  ;  dictated  to  me. 
acknoivl. 

Argument  in  favour  of  Joseph  Knight,  an  African  Negro, 
who  claimed  his  Liberty  in  the  Court  of  Session  in  Scot- 
land, and  obtained  it ;  dictated  to  me.  acknowl. 

Defence  of  Mr.  Robertson,  Printer  of  the  Caledonian  Mer- 
cury, against  the  Society  of  Procurators  in  Fldinburgh, 
for  having  inserted  in  his  Paper  a  ludicrous  Paragraph 
against  them  ;  demonstrating  that  it  was  not  an  injurious 
Libel ;  dictated  to  me.  acknowl. 
\1%z.  The  greatest  part,  if  not  the  whole,  of  a  Reply,  by  the  Rev- 
erend Mr.  Shaw,  to  a  Person  at  Edinburgh,  of  the  Name 
of  Clark,  refuting  his  arguments  for  the  authenticity  of 
the  Poems  published  by  Mr.  James  Macpherson  as  Trans- 
lations from  Ossian.  intern,  evid. 
1784.  List  of  the  Authours  of  the  Universal  History,  deposited  in 
the  British  Museum,  and  printed  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  for  December,  this  year,  acknowl. 

'  The  first  four  volumes  of  the  Lives  were  published  in  1779,  the  last 
six  in  1 781. 


Various 


28  A  Chronological  Catalogue^  &c. 


Various  Years. 

Letters  to  Mrs.  Thrale.  acknowl. 

Prayers  and  Meditations,  which  he  delivered  to  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Strahan,  enjoining  him  to  publish  them,  acknowl. 

Sermons  left  for  Publication  by  John  Taylor,  LL.D.  Pre- 
bendary of  Westminster,  and  given  to  the  World  by  the 
Reverend  Samuel  Hayes,  A.M.  intern,  and. 

Such  was  the  number  and  variety  of  the  Prose  Works  of  this 
extraordinary  man,  which  I  have  been  able  to  discover,  and  am  at 
liberty  to  mention ;  but  we  ought  to  keep  in  mind,  that  there  must 
undoubtedly  have  been  many  more  which  are  yet  concealed  ;  and 
we  may  add  to  the  account,  the  numerous  Letters  which  he  wrote, 
of  which  a  considerable  part  are  yet  unpublished.  It  is  hoped  that 
those  persons  in  whose  possession  they  are,  will  favour  the  world 
with  them. 

JAMES  BOS  WELL. 


*  After  my  death  I  wish  no  other  herald, 
'  No  other  speaker  of  my  living  actions, 
'  To  keep  mine  honour  from  corruption, 
'  But  such  an  honest  chronicler  as  Griffith '.' 

Shaksi'kare,  Henry  VIIL  [Act  IV.  Sc.  2.] 

'See  Dr.  Johnson's  letter  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  dated  Ostick  in  Skie,  Sep- 
tember 30,  1773: — '  Boswell  writes  a  regular  Journal  of  our  travels, 
which  I  think  contains  as  much  of  what  I  say  and  do,  as  of  all  other 
occurrences  together;  "for  such  a  faithful  chronicler  is  Griffith^'' 
Boswell.  See  Piozzi  Letters,  i.  159,  where  however  we  read  'as 
Griffith.' 


THE    LIFE    OF 
SAMUEL    JOHNSON,    LED. 


To  write  the  Life  of  him  who  excelled  all  mankind  in 
writing  the  lives  of  others,  and  who,  whether  we  con- 
sider his  extraordinary  endowments,  or  his  various  works, 
has  been  equalled  by  few  in  any  age,  is  an  arduous,  and  may 
be  reckoned  in  me  a  presumptuous  task. 

Had  Dr.  Johnson  written  his  own  life,  in  conformity  with 
the  opinion  which  he  has  given ',  that  every  man's  life  may 
be  best  written  by  himself ;  had  he  employed  in  the  preser- 
vation of  his  own  history,  that  clearness  of  narration  and 
elegance  of  language  in  which  he  has  embalmed  so  many 
eminent  persons,  the  world  would  probably  have  had  the 
most  perfect  example  of  biography  that  was  ever  exhibited. 
But  although  he  at  different  times,  in  a  desultory  manner, 
committed  to  writing  many  particulars  of  the  progress  of 
his  mind  and  fortunes,  he  never  had  persevering  diligence 
enough  to  form  them  into  a  regular  composition"'.     Of  these 

'  Idler,  No.  84.  Boswell. — In  this  paper  he  says  :  '  Those  relations 
are  commonly  of  most  value  in  which  the  writer  tells  his  own  story. 
He  that  recounts  the  life  of  another  .  .  .  lessens  the  familiarity  of  his 
taie  to  mcrease  its  dignity  .  .  .  and  endeavours  to  hide  the  man  that 
he  may  produce  a  hero.' 

*  '  It  very  seldom  happens  to  man  that  his  business  is  his  pleasure. 
What  is  done  from  necessity  is  so  often  to  be  done  when  against  the 
present  mclination,  and  so  often  fills  the  mind  with  anxiety,  that  an 
habitual  dislike  steals  upon  us,  and  we  shrink  involuntarily  from  the 

remembrance  of  our  task From  this  unwillingness  to  perform  more 

than  is  required  of  that  which  is  commonly  performed  with  reluct- 
ance it  proceeds  that  few  authors  write  their  own  lives.'  Idler,  No. 
IG2.     See  also /^.y/,  May  i,  1783. 

memorials 


30  The  author  s  qualifications. 

memorials  a  few  have  been  preserved ;  but  the  greater 
part  was  consigned  by  him  to  the  flames,  a  few  days  before 
his  death. 

As  I  had  the  honor  and  happiness  of  enjoying  his  friend- 
ship for  upwards  of  twenty  years ;  as  I  had  the  scheme  of 
writing  his  life  constantly  in  view  ;  as  he  was  well  apprised 
of  this  circumstance',  and  from  time  to  time  obligingly  sat- 
isfied my  inquiries,  by  communicating  to  me  the  incidents  of 
his  early  years;  as  I  acquired  a  facility  in  recollecting,  and 
was  very  assiduous  in  recording,  his  conversation,  of  which 
the  extraordinary'  \'igour  and  vivacity  constituted  one  of  the 

'  Mrs.  Piozzi  records  the  followinj.^  rotivcrsation  with  Johnson, 
which,  she  says,  took  place  on  July  i8,  1773.  '  And  who  will  be  my 
biographer,' said  he,  'do  you  think?'  •  (i(;ldsmith,  no  doubt,'  re- 
plied I;  'and  he  will  do  it  the  best  amonj^  us.'  'The  dog  would 
write  it  best  to  be  sure,'  replied  he;  'but  his  particular  malice  tow- 
ards mc,  and  general  disregard  for  truth,  would  make  the  book 
useless  to  all,  and  injurious  to  my  cliaractt-r."  •  ( )h  !  as  to  that,'  said 
I. '  we  should  all  fasten  upon  him,  and  force  him  to  do  you  justice; 
but  the  worst  is,  the  Doctor  does  not  kticrai  your  life ;  nor  can  I  tell 
indeed  who  does,  except  Dr.  Taylor  of  Ashbourne."  •  Why  Taylor,* 
said  he,  '  is  better  acquainted  with  my  Juart  than  any  man  or  wom- 
an now  alive;  and  the  history  of  my  Oxford  exploits  lies  all  between 
him  and  Adams;  but  Dr.  James  knows  my  very  early  days  better 
than  he.  After  my  coming  to  London  to  drive  the  world  about  a 
little,  you  must  all  go  to  Jack  Hawkesworth  for  anecdotes  :  I  lived  in 
great  familiarity  with  him  (though  I  think  there  was  not  much  affec- 
tion) from  the  year  1753  till  the  time  Mr.  Thrale  and  you  took  me  up. 
I  intend,  however,  to  disappoint  the  rogues,  and  either  make  you  write 
the  life,  with  Taylor's  intelligence ;  or,  which  is  better,  do  it  myself 
after  outliving  you  all.  I  am  now,'  added  he,  '  keeping  a  diary,  in 
hopes  of  using  it  for  that  purpose  some  time.'  Piozzi's  Atux.  p.  31. 
How  much  of  this  is  true  cannot  be  known.  Boswell  some  time  be- 
fore this  conversation  had  told  Johnson  that  he  intended  to  write  his 
Life,  and  Johnson  had  given  him  many  particulars  (see /^v/,  March 
31,  1772,  and  April  11,  1773).  He  read  moreover  in  manuscript  most 
of  Boswell's  Tour  io  the  Hebrides,  and  from  it  learnt  of  his  intention. 
'  It  is  no  small  satisfaction  to  me  to  reflect,'  Boswell  wrote, '  that  Dr. 
Johnson,  after  being  apprised  of  my  intentions,  communicated  to  me, 
at  subsequent  periods,  many  particulars  of  his  life.'  Boswell's  Heih- 
rides,  Oct.  14,  1773. 

first 


The  Life  by  Sir  J.  Hawkins.  31 

first  features  of  his  character;  and  as  I  have  spared  no  pains 
in  obtaining  materials  concerning  him,  from  every  quarter 
where  I  could  discover  that  they  were  to  be  found,  and 
have  been  favoured  with  the  most  Hberal  communications 
by  his  friends ;  I  flatter  myself  that  few  biographers  have 
entered  upon  such  a  work  as  this,  with  more  advantages ; 
independent  of  literary  abilities,  in  which  I  am  not  vain 
enough  to  compare  myself  with  some  great  names  who  have 
gone  before  me  in  this  kind  of  writing. 

Since  my  work  was  announced,  several  Lives  and  Memoirs 
of  Dr.  Johnson  have  been  published',  the  most  voluminous 
of  which  is  one  compiled  for  the  booksellers  of  London,  by 
Sir  John  Hawkins,  Knight',  a  man,  whom,  during  my  long 
intimacy  with  Dr.  Johnson,  I  never  saw  in  his  company, 
I  think  but  once,  and  I  am  sure  not  above  twice.  John- 
son might  have  esteemed  him  for  his  decent,  religious  de- 
meanour, and  his  knowledge  of  books  and  literary  history ; 
but  from  the  rigid  formality  of  his  manners,  it  is  evident  that 
they  never  could  have  lived  together  with  companionable 
ease  and  familiarity";  nor  had  Sir  John  Hawkins  that  nice 

*  '  It  may  be  said  the  death  of  Dr.  Johnson  kept  the  pubhc  mind 
in  agitation  beyond  all  former  example.  No  literary  character  ever 
excited  so  much  attention.'     Murphy's  Johnson,  p.  3. 

*  The  greatest  part  of  this  book  was  written  while  Sir  John  Hawkins 
was  alive ;  and  I  avow,  that  one  object  of  my  strictures  was  to  make 
him  feel  some  compunction  for  his  illiberal  treatment  of  Dr.  Johnson. 
Since  his  decease,  I  have  suppressed  several  of  my  remarks  upon  his 
work.  But  though  I  would  not  '  war  with  the  dead  '  offensively,  I  think 
it  necessary  to  be  strenuous  in  defence  of  my  illustrious  friend,  which 
I  cannot  be  without  strong  animadversions  upon  a  writer  who  has 
greatly  injured  him.  Let  me  add,  that  though  I  doubt  I  should  not 
have  been  very  prompt  to  gratify  Sir  John  Hawkins  with  any  com- 
pliment in  his  lifetime,  I  do  now  frankly  acknowledge,  that,  in  my 
opinion,  his  volume,  however  inadequate  and  improper  as  a  life  of 
Dr.  Johnson,  and  however  discredited  by  unpardonable  inaccuracies 
in  other  respects,  contains  a  collection  of  curious  anecdotes  and  obser- 
vations, which  few  men  but  its  author  could  have  brought  together. 

BOSWELL. 

'  'The  next  name  that  was  started  was  that  of  Sir  John  Hawkins; 
and  Mrs.  Thrale  said,  "  Why  now,  Dr.  Johnson,  he  is  another  of  those 

perception 


32  The  Life  by  Sir  jf.  Hawk  his. 

perception  which  was  necessary  to  mark  the  finer  and  less 
obvious  part  of  Johnson's  character.  His  being  appointed 
one  of  his  executors,  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  taking  pos- 
session of  such  fragments  of  a  diaiy  and  other  papers  as  were 
left ;  of  which,  before  delivering  them  up  to  the  residuary 
legatee,  whose  property  they  were,  he  endeavoured  to  ex- 
tract the  substance.  In  this  he  has  not  been  very  successful, 
as  I  have  found  upon  a  perusal  of  those  papers,  which  have 
been  since  transferred  to  me.  Sir  John  Hawkins's  ponderous 
labours,  I  must  acknowledge,  exhibit  a  farrago,  of  which  a 
considerable  portion  is  not  devoid  of  entertainment  to  the 
lovers  of  literary  gossiping;  but  besides  its  being  swelled 
out  with  long  unnecessary  extracts  from  various  works  (even 
one  of  several  leaves  from  Osborne's  Harleian  Catalogue, 
and  those  not  compiled  by  Johnson,  but  by  Oldys),  a  very 
small  part  of  it  relates  to  the  person  who  is  the  subject  of 
the  book ;  and,  in  that,  there  is  such  an  inaccuracy  in  the 
statement  of  facts,  as  in  so  solemn  an  authour  is  hardly 
excusable,  and  certainly  makes  his  narrative  very  unsatis- 
factory. But  what  is  still  worse,  there  is  throughout  the 
whole  of  it  a  dark,  uncharitable  cast,  by  which  the  most 
unfavourable  construction  is  put  upon  almost  every  circum- 
stance   in    the    character    and    conduct    of    my    illustrious 

whom  you  suffer  nobody  to  abuse  but  yourself :  Garrick  is  one  too ; 
for,  if  any  other  person  speaks  against  him,  you  brow-beat  him  in  a 
minute."  "Why  madam,"  answered  he,  "they  don't  know  when  to 
abuse  him,  and  when  to  praise  him ;  I  will  allow  no  man  to  speak  ill 
of  David  that  he  does  not  deserve ;  and  as  to  Sir  John,  why  really  I 
believe  him  to  be  an  honest  man  at  the  bottom ;  but  to  be  sure  he  is 
penurious,  and  he  is  mean,  and  it  must  be  owned  he  has  a  degree  of  bru- 
tality, and  a  tendency  to  savageness,  that  cannot  easily  be  defended." 
.  .  .  He  said  that  Sir  John  and  he  once  belonged  to  the  same  club,  but 
that  as  he  eat  no  supper,  after  the  first  night  of  his  admission  he  de- 
sired to  be  excused  paying  his  share.  "And  was  he  excused?"  "O 
yes  ;  for  no  man  is  angry  at  another  for  being  inferior  to  himself.  We 
all  scorned  him,  and  admitted  his  plea.  For  my  part,  I  was  such  a 
fool  as  to  pay  my  share  for  wine,  though  I  never  tasted  any.  But 
Sir  John  was  a  most  unclubable  man." '  Madame  D'Arblay's  Diary, 
i.65. 

friend  ; 


Wardiu^ foils  vieiv  of  biograpfiy. 


friend' ;  who,  I  trust,  will,  by  a  true  and  fair  delineation,  be 
vindicated  both  from  the  injurious  misrepresentations  of  this 
authour,  and  from  the  slighter  aspersions  of  a  lady  who 
once  lived  in  great  intimacy  with  him  ^ 

There  is,  in  the  British  Museum,  a  letter  from  Bishop  War- 
burton  to  Dr.  Birch,  on  the  subject  of  biography  ;  which, 
though  I  am  aware  it  may  expose  me  to  a  charge  of  art- 
fully raising  the  value  of  my  own  work,  by  contrasting  it 
with  that  of  which  I  have  spoken,  is  so  well  conceived  and 
expressed,  that  I  cannot  refrain  from  here  inserting  it : — 

'  I  shall  endeavour,  (says  Dr.  Warburton,)  to  give  you  what  satis- 
faction I  can  in  any  thing  you  want  to  be  satisfied  in  any  subject 
of  Milton,  and  am  extremely  glad  you  intend  to  write  his  life. 
Almost  all  the  life-writers  we  have  had  before  Toland  and  Des- 
maiseaux^,  are  indeed  strange  insipid  creatures;  and  yet  I  had 
rather  read  the  worst  of  them,  than  be  obliged  to  go  through  with 

•  '  In  censuring  Mr.  [j/r]  J.  Hawkins's  book  I  say :  "There  is  through- 
out the  whole  of  it  a  dark,  uncharitable  cast,  which  puts  the  most  un- 
favourable construction  on  my  illustrious  friend's  conduct."  Malone 
maintains  cast  will  not  do ;  he  will  have  "  malignancy."  Is  that  not 
too  strong.^  How  would  "  disposition  "  do  ?  . .  .  Hawkins  is  no  doubt 
very  malevolent.  Observe  how  he  talks  of  me  as  quite  nnknowji!  Let- 
ters of  Boswell,  p.  281.  Malone  wrote  of  Hawkins  as  follows:  'The 
bishop  [Bishop  Percy  of  Dromore]  concurred  with  every  other  person 
I  have  heard  speak  of  Hawkins,  in  saying  that  he  was  a  most  detest- 
able fellow.  He  was  the  son  of  a  carpenter,  and  set  out  in  life  in  the 
very  lowest  line  of  the  law.  Dyer  knew  him  well  at  one  time,  and  the 
bishop  heard  him  give  a  character  of  Hawkins  once  that  painted  him 
in  the  blackest  colours  ;  though  Dyer  was  by  no  means  apt  to  deal  in 
such  portraits.  Dyer  said  he  was  a  man  of  the  most  mischievous,  un- 
charitable, and  malignant  disposition.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  observed 
to  me  that  Hawkins,  though  he  assumed  great  outward  sanctity,  was 
not  only  mean  and  grovelling  in  disposition,  but  absolutely  dishonest. 
He  never  lived  in  any  real  intimacy  with  Dr.  Johnson,  who  never 
opened  his  heart  to  him,  or  had  in  fact  any  accurate  knowledge  of 
his  character.'     Prior's  MaloJie,  pp.  425-7.     See  post,  Feb.  1764,  note. 

'■*  Mrs.  Piozzi.     See  post,  under  June  30,  1784. 

*  Voltaire  in  his  account  of  Bayle  says :  '  Des  Maizeaux  a  ecrit  sa 
vie  en  un  gros  volume;  elle  ne  devait  pas  contenir  six  pages.'  Vol- 
taire's IVorks,  edition  of  1819,  xvii.  47. 

I. 3  this 


34  -i fi^  author  s  viodc  oj  procedure. 


this  of  Milton's,  or  the  other's  life  of  Boileau,  where  there  is  such 
a  dull,  heavy  succession  of  long  quotations  of  disinteresting  pas- 
sages, that  it  makes  their  method  quite  nauseous.  But  the  verbose, 
tasteless  Frenchman  seems  to  lay  it  down  as  a  principle,  that  every 
life  must  be  a  book,  and  what's  worse,  it  proves  a  book  without  a 
life  ;  for  what  do  we  know  of  Boileau,  after  all  his  tedious  stufi  ? 
You  are  the  only  one,  (and  I  speak  it  without  a  compliment,)  that 
by  the  vigour  of  your  stile  and  sentiments,  and  the  real  importance 
of  your  materials,  have  the  art,  (which  one  would  imagine  no  one 
could  have  missed,)  of  adding  agreements  to  the  most  agreeable 
subject  in  the  world,  which  is  literary  history'. 
'Nov.  24,  1737.' 

Instead  of  melting  down  my  materials  into  one  mass,  and 
constantly  speaking  in  my  own  person,  by  which  I  might 
have  appeared  to  have  more  merit  in  the  execution  of  the 
work,  I  have  resolved  to  adopt  and  enlarge  upon  the  excel- 
lent plan  of  Mr.  Mason,  in  his  Memoirs  of  Gray'.  Wher- 
ever narrative  is  necessary  to  explain,  connect,  and  supply, 
I  furnish  it  to  the  best  of  my  abilities ;  but  in  the  chrono- 
logical series  of  Johnson's  life,  which  I  trace  as  distinctly  as 
I  can,  year  by  year,  I  produce,  wherever  it  is  in  my  power, 
his  own  minutes,  letters  or  conversation,  being  convinced 
that  this  mode  is  more  lively,  and  will  make  my  readers 
better  acquainted  with  him,  than  even  most  of  those  were 
who  actually  knew  him,  but  could  know  him  only  partially; 
whereas  there  is  here  an  accumulation  of  intelligence  from 
various  points,  by  which  his  character  is  more  fully  under- 
stood and  illustrated '. 

•  Brit.  Mus.  4320,  Ayscough's  Catal.,  Sloane  MSS.  BOSWELL. — Hor- 
ace Walpole  describes  Birch  as  '  a  worthy,  good-natured  soul,  full  of 
industry  and  activity,  and  running  about  like  a  young  setting-dog  in 
quest  of  anything,  new  or  old,  and  with  no  parts,  taste,  or  judgment.' 
Walpole's  Letters,  vii.  326.     See  post,  Sept.  1743. 

^  '  You  have  fixed  the  method  of  biography,  and  whoever  will  write 
a  life  well  must  imitate  you.'  Horace  Walpole  to  Mason  ;  Walpole's 
Letters,  vi.  211. 

^ '  I  am  absolutely  certain  that  my  mode  of  biography,  which  gives 
not  only  a  History  of  Johnson's  visible  progress  through  the  world, 
and  of  his  publications,  but  a  view  of  his  mind  in  his  letters  and  con- 

Inde'^d 


Not  a  panegyruk,  but  a  Life.  35 

Indeed  I  cannot  conceive  a  more  perfect  mode  of  writing 
any  man's  life,  than  not  only  relating  all  the  most  important 
events  of  it  in  their  order,  but  interweaving  what  he  pri- 
vately wrote,  and  said,  and  thought ;  by  which  mankind  arc 
enabled  as  it  were  to  see  him  live,  and  to  '  live  o'er  each 
scene'  '  with  him,  as  he  actually  advanced  through  the  sev- 
eral stages  of  his  life.  Had  his  other  friends  been  as  diligent 
and  ardent  as  I  was,  he  might  have  been  almost  entirely 
preserved.  As  it  is,  I  will  venture  to  say  that  he  will  be 
seen  in  this  work  more  completely  than  any  man  who  has 
ever  yet  lived  \ 

And  he  will  be  seen  as  he  really  was ;  for  I  profess  to 
write,  not  his  panegyrick,  which  must  be  all  praise,  but  his 
Life ;  which,  great  and  good  as  he  was,  must  not  be  sup- 
posed to  be  entirely  perfect.  To  be  as  he  was,  is  indeed  sub- 
ject of  panegyrick  enough  to  any  man  in  this  state  of  being ; 
but  in  every  picture  there  should  be  shade  as  well  as  light, 
and  when  I  delineate  him  without  reserve,  I  do  what  he 
himself  recommended,  both  by  his  precept  and  his  example  \ 

'  If  the  biographer  writes  from  personal  knowledge,  and  makes 
haste  to  gratify  the  publick   curiosity,  there  is  danger  lest  his 

versations,  is  the  most  perfect  that  can  be  conceived,  and  will  be  more 
of  a  Life  than  any  work  that  has  ever  yet  appeared."  Letters  of  Bos 
well,  p.  265. 

■  Pope's  Prologue  to  Addison's  Cato,  1.  4. 

• '  .  .  .  Boswell  is  the  first  of  biographers.  He  has  distanced  all  his 
competitors  so  decidedly  that  it  is  not  worth  while  to  place  them. 
Eclipse  is  first,  and  the  rest  nowhere.'     Macaulay's  Essays,  i.  374. 

»  See  post,  Sept.  17.  1777.  and  Malone's  note  of  March  15,  1781,  and 
Boswell's  Hebrides,  Sept.  22.  1773.  Hannah  More  met  Boswell  when 
he  was  carrying  through  the  press  his  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Heb- 
rides. 'Boswell  tells  me,'  she  writes,  'he  is  printing  anecdotes  of 
Johnson,  not  his  Life,  but,  as  he  has  the  vanity  to  call  it,  yen's,  pyramid. 
I  besought  his  tenderness  for  our  virtuous  and  most  revered  departed 
friend,  and  begged  he  would  mitigate  some  of  his  asperities.  He  said 
roughly :  "  He  would  not  cut  ofi  his  claws,  nor  make  a  tiger  a  cat,  to 
please  anybody."  It  will,  I  doubt  not,  be  a  very  amusing  book.  but.  I 
hope,  not  an  indiscreet  one ;  he  has  great  enthusiasm  and  some  fire.' 
H.  M ore's  Memoirs,  i.  403. 

interest 


36  Co7tversation  best  displays  character, 

interest,  his  fear,  his  gratitude,  or  his  tenderness  overpower  his 
fidelity,  and  tempt  him  to  conceal,  if  not  to  invent.  There  are 
many  who  think  it  an  act  of  piety  to  hide  the  faults  or  failings  of 
their  friends,  even  when  they  can  no  longer  suffer  by  their  detec- 
tion ;  we  therefore  see  whole  ranks  of  characters  adorned  with 
uniform  panegyrick,  and  not  to  be  known  from  one  another  but 
by  extrinsick  and  casual  circumstances.  "  Let  me  remember, 
(says  Hale,)  when  I  find  myself  inclined  to  pity  a  criminal,  that 
there  is  likewise  a  pity  due  to  the  country."  If  we  owe  regard  to 
the  memory  of  the  dead,  there  is  yet  more  respect  to  be  paid  to 
knowledge,  to  virtue  and  to  truth '.' 

What  I  consider  as  the  peculiar  value  of  the  following 
■work,  is,  the  quantity  it  contains  of  Johnson's  conversation  ; 
which  is  universally  acknowledged  to  have  been  eminently 
instructive  and  entertaining;  and  of  which  the  specimens 
that  I  have  given,  upon  a  former  occasion',  have  been  re- 
ceived with  so  much  approbation,  that  I  have  good  grounds 
for  supposing  that  the  world  will  not  be  indifferent  to  more 
ample  communications  of  a  similar  nature. 

That  the  conversation  of  a  celebrated  man,  if  his  talents 
have  been  exerted  in  conversation,  will  best  display  his  char- 
acter, is,  I  trust,  too  well  established  in  the  judgment  of  man- 
kind, to  be  at  all  shaken  by  a  sneering  observation  of  Mr. 
Mason,  in  his  Memoirs  of  Mr.  William  Whitehead,  in  which 
there  is  literally  no  Life,  but  a  mere  dry  narrative  of  facts'. 
I  do  not  think  it  was  quite  necessary  to  attempt  a  deprecia- 
tion of  what  is  universally  esteemed,  because  it  was  not  to 
be  found  in  the  immediate  object  of  the  ingenious  writer's 
pen ;  for  in  truth,  from  a  man  so  still  and  so  tame,  as  to  be 
contented  to  pass  many  years  as  the  domestick  companion  of 
a  superannuated  lord  and  lady\  conversation  could  no  more 

1  Rambler,  No.  60.     Boswell. 

*  In  the  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides. 

^  '  Mason's  Life  of  Gray  is  excellent,  because  it  is  interspersed  with 
letters  which  show  us  the  7nan.  His  Life  of  IV/utchead  is  not  a  life 
at  all,  for  there  is  neither  a  letter  nor  a  saying  from  first  to  last.'  Let- 
ters of  Boswell,  p.  265. 

*  The  Earl  and  Countess  of  Jersey.     Wright. 

be 


Dr.  yo/uison  on  biography.  37 


be  expected,  than  from  a  Chinese  mandarin  on  a  chimney- 
piece,  or  the  fantastick  figures  on  a  gilt  leather  skreen. 

If  authority  be  required,  let  us  appeal  to  Plutarch,  the 
prince  of  ancient  biographers.  Ovre  raU  i'rri.^avecndraL'^ 
irpa^ea-i  7rdvTco<i  eveari  Bi]\(oaL<i  dpeTr)^  77  KaKca^;,  dWd  TrpdyfjLa 
^pa'^v  TToWaKd,  KUi  pf]fia,  kuI  TracBtd  rt?  6fM<f)acriv  i]dou<i 
eirolriaev  fxaXkov  i)  p^d-^ai  fivpioveKpoi,  koI  irapaTd^ei^  al 
fieyiarai,  Kal  TroXiopKiai  ttoXccov.  '  Nor  is  it  always  in  the 
most  distinguished  achievements  that  men's  virtues  or  vices 
may  be  best  discerned  ;  but  very  often  an  action  of  small 
note,  a  short  saying,  or  a  jest,  shall  distinguish  a  person's 
real  character  more  than  the  greatest  sieges,  or  the  most 
important  battles'.' 

To  this  may  be  added  the  sentiments  of  the  very  man 
whose  life  I  am  about  to  exhibit. 

'  The  business  of  the  biographer  is  often  to  pass  slightly  over 
those  performances  and  incidents  which  produce  \ailgar  greatness, 
to  lead  the  thoughts  into  domestick  privacies,  and  display  the 
minute  details  of  daily  life,  where  exteriour  appendages  are  cast 
aside,  and  men  excel  each  other  only  by  prudence  and  by  virtue. 
The  account  of  Thuanus  is  with  great  propriety  said  by  its  authour 
to  have  been  written,  that  it  might  lay  open  to  posterity  the  private 
and  familiar  character  of  that  man,  at/us  ingenium  et  candorein  ex 
ipsius  scriptis  sunt  olim  semper  miraturi,  whose  candour  and  genius 
will  to  the  end  of  time  be  by  his  writings  preserved  in  admiration. 

'There  are  many  invisible  circumstances,  which  whether  we  read 
as  enquirers  after  natural  or  moral  knowledge,  whether  we  intend 
to  enlarge  our  science,  or  increase  our  virtue,  are  more  important 
than  publick  occurrences.  Thus  Sallust,  the  great  master  of  nat- 
ure, has  not  forgot  in  his  account  of  Catiline  to  remark,  that  his 
walk  was  now  quick,  and  again  slow,  as  an  indication  of  a  mind 
revolving^  with  violent  commotion.  Thus  the  story  of  Melanch- 
thon  affords  a  striking  lecture  on  the  value  of  time,  by  informing 
us,  that  when  he  had  made  an  appointment,  he  expected  not  only 
the  hour,  but  the  minute  to  be  fixed,  that  the  day  might  not  run 
out  in  the  idleness  of  suspence  ;  and  all  the  plans  and  enterprises 

'  Plutarch's  Life  of  Alexander,  Langhorne's  Translation.    Boswell. 
'  In  the  original,  revolving  something. 

:    •  of 


38  Reply  to  possible  objections. 

of  De  Witt  are  now  of  less  importance  to  the  world  than  that  part 
of  his  personal  character,  which  represents  him  as  careful  of  his 
health,  and  negligent  of  his  life. 

'  Kut  biography  has  often  been  allotted  to  writers,  who  seem 
very  little  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  their  task,  or  very  negli- 
gent about  the  performance.  They  rarely  afford  any  other  account 
than  might  be  collected  from  publick  papers,  but  imagine  them- 
selves writing  a  life,  when  they  exhibit  a  chronological  series  of 
actions  or  preferments ;  '  and  have  so  little  regard  to  the  manners ' 
or  behaviour  of  their  heroes,  that  more  knowledge  may  be  gained 
of  a  man's  real  character,  by  a  short  conversation  with  one  of  his 
servants,  than  from  a  formal  and  studied  narrative,  begun  with  his 
pedigree,  and  ended  with  his  funeral. 

'There  are  indeed,  some  natural  reasons  why  these  narratives 
are  often  written  by  such  as  were  not  likely  to  give  much  instruc- 
tion or  delight,  and  why  most  accounts  of  particular  persons  are 
barren  and  useless.  If  a  life  be  delayed  till  interest  and  envy  are 
at  an  end,  we  may  hope  for  impartiality,  but  must  expect  little 
intelligence  ;  for  the  incidents  which  give  excellence  to  biography 
are  of  a  volatile  and  evanescent  kind,  such  as  soon  escape  the 
memory,  'and  are  transmitted  '  by  tradition.  We  know  how  few 
can  pourtray  a  living  acquaintance,  except  by  his  most  prominent 
and  observable  particularities,  and  the  grosser  features  of  his 
mind  ;  and  it  may  be  easily  imagined  how  much  of  this  little 
knowledge  may  be  lost  in  imparting  it,  and  how  soon  a  succession 
of  copies  will  lose  all  resemblance  of  the  original  \' 

I  am  fully  aware  of  the  objections  which  may  be  made  to 
the  minuteness  on  some  occasions  of  my  detail  of  Johnson's 
conversation,  and  how  happily  it  is  adapted  for  the  petty 
exercise  of  ridicule,  by  men  of  superficial  understanding  and 
ludicrous  fancy ;  but  I  remain  firm  and  confident  in  my  opin- 
ion, that  minute  particulars  are  frequently  characteristick,  and 
always  amusing,  when  they  relate  to  a  distinguished  man.  I 
am  therefore  exceedingly  unwilling  that  anything,  however 
slight,  which  my  illustrious  friend  thought  it  worth  his  while 
to  express,  with   any  degree  of  point,  should   perish.     For 

■  In  the  original,  and  so  little  regard  the  manners. 
'  In  the  original,  and  are  rarely  transmitted. 
*  Rambler,  No.  60.     Boswell. 

this 


Reply  to  possible  objections.  39 

this  almost  superstitious  reverence,  I  have  found  ver>'  old 
and  venerable  authority,  quoted  by  our  great  modern  prel- 
ate, Seeker,  in  whose  tenth  sermon  there  is  the  following 
passage : 

'  Rabbi  David  Kimchi,  a  noted  Jewish  Commentator,  who  lived 
about  five  hundred  years  ago,  explains  that  passage  in  the  first 
Psalm,  His  leaf  also  shall  not  wither,  from  Rabbins  yet  older  than 
himself,  thus  :  That  even  the  idle  talk^  so  he  expresses  it,  of  a  good 
man  ought  to  be  regarded ;  the  most  superfluous  things  he  saith  are 
always  of  some  value.  And  other  ancient  authours  have  the  same 
phrase,  nearly  in  the  same  sense.' 

Of  one  thing  I  am  certain,  that  considering  how  highly 
the  small  portion  which  we  have  of  the  table-talk  and  other 
anecdotes  of  our  celebrated  writers  is  valued,  and  how  earn- 
estly it  is  regretted  that  we  have  not  more,  I  am  justified  in 
preserving  rather  too  many  of  Johnson's  sayings,  than  too 
few ;  especially  as  from  the  diversity  of  dispositions  it  can- 
not be  known  with  certainty  beforehand,  whether  what  may 
seem  trifling  to  some,  and  perhaps  to  the  collector  himself, 
may  not  be  most  agreeable  to  many ;  and  the  greater  num- 
ber that  an  authour  can  please  in  any  degree,  the  more  pleas- 
ure does  there  arise  to  a  benevolent  mind. 

To  those  who  are  weak  enough  to  think  this  a  degrading 
task,  and  the  time  and  labour  which  have  been  devoted  to 
it  misemployed,  I  shall  content  myself  with  opposing  the 
authority  of  the  greatest  man  of  any  age,  JULIUS  C-(ESAR, 
of  whom  Bacon  observes,  that  '  in  his  book  of  Apothegms 
which  he  collected,  we  see  that  he  esteemed  it  more  honour 
to  make  himself  but  a  pair  of  tables,  to  take  the  wise  and 
pithy  words  of  others,  than  to  have  every  word  of  his  own 
to  be  made  an  apothegm  or  an  oracle '.' 

Having  said  thus  much  by  way  of  introduction,  I  commit 
the  following  pages  to  the  candour  of  the  Publick. 

»  Bacon's  Advancement  of  Learning,  Book  I.     Boswell. 

Samuel 


40  yo/insofis  birth  avd  dapiism.  [km.  1709. 

Samuel'  Johnson  was  born  at  Lichfield,  in  Stafford- 
shire, on  the  i8th  of  September,  N.S.,  1709;  and  his  initia- 
tion into  the  Christian  Church  was  not  delayed  ;  for  his 
baptism  is  recorded,  in  the  register  of  St,  Mary's  parish  in 
that  city,  to  have  been  performed  on  the  day  of  his  birth. 
His  father  is  there  stiled  Gentleman,  a  circumstance  of  which 
an  ignorant  panegyrist  has  praised  him  for  not  being  proud  ; 
when  the  truth  is,  that  the  appellation  of  Gentleman,  though 
now  lost  in  the  indiscriminate  assumption  of  Esquire"^,  was 
commonly  taken  by  those  who  could  not  boast  of  gentility. 
Mis  father  was  Michael  Johnson,  a  native  of  Derbyshire,  of 
obscure  extraction ',  who  settled  in  Lichfield  as  a  book- 
seller and  stationer*.  His  mother  was  Sarah  Ford,  de- 
scended of  an  ancient  race  of  substantial  yeomanry  in  War- 
wickshire \     They  were  well  advanced  in  years  when  they 

'  Johnson's  godfather,  Dr.  Samuel  Swinfen,  according  to  the  author 
of  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Dr.  Jo/inson,  1785,  p.  10,  was 
at  the  time  of  his  birth  lodging  with  Michael  Johnson.  Johnson  had 
uncles  on  the  mother's  side,  named  Samuel  and  Nathaniel  (see  Notes 
and  Queries,  5th  S.  v.  13),  after  whom  he  and  his  brother  may  have 
been  nanied.  It  seems  more  likely  that  it  was  his  godfather  who 
gave  him  his  name. 

^  So  early  as  1709  The  Toiler  complains  of  this  '  indiscriminate  as- 
sumption.' '  I'll  undertake  that  if  you  read  the  superscriptions  to  all 
the  offices  in  the  kingdom,  you  will  not  fuid  three  letters  directed  to 
any  but  Esquires.  ...  In  a  word  it  is  now  Populus  Arvtigeroruin,  a 
people  of  Esquires.  And  I  don't  know  but  by  the  late  act  of  natural- 
isation, foreigners  will  assume  that  title  as  part  of  the  immunity  of 
being  Englishmen.'     The  Tatler,  No.  19. 

'  '  I  can  hardly  tell  who  was  my  grandfather,'  said  Johnson.  See 
post,  May  9,  1773. 

*  Michael  Johnson  was  born  in  1656.  He  must  have  been  engaged 
in  the  book-trade  as  early  as  1681  ;  for  in  the  Life  of  Dryden  his  son 
says,  'The  sale  of  Absalom  and  Achitophel  was  so  large,  that  my 
father,  an  old  bookseller,  told  me,  he  had  not  known  it  equalled  but 
by  Sacheverel's  Trial.'  Johnson's  Works,  vii.  276.  In  the  Life  of 
Sprat  he  is  described  by  his  son  as  '  an  old  man  who  had  been  no 
careless  observer  of  the  passages  of  those  times.'     lb.  392. 

'  Her  epitaph  says  that  she  was  born  at  Kingsnorton.  Kingsnorton 
is  in  Worcestershire,  and  not,  as  the  epitaph  says,  '  in  agro  Varvicensi.' 
When  Johnson  a  few  days  before  his  death  burnt  his  papers,  some 

married, 


A.D.  1709.]  His  pare7itage. 


41 


married,  and  never  had  more  than  two  children,  both  sons ; 
Samuel,  their  first  born,  who  lived  to  be  the  illustrious  char- 
acter whose  various  excellence  I  am  to  endeavour  to  record, 
and  Nathaniel,  who  died  in  his  twenty-fifth  year. 

Mr.  Michael  Johnson  was  a  man  of  a  large  and  robust 
body,  and  of  a  strong  and  active  mind  ;  yet,  as  in  the  most 
solid  rocks  veins  of  unsound  substance  are  often  discovered, 
there  was  in  him  a  mixture  of  that  disease,  the  nature  of 
which  eludes  the  most  minute  enquiry,  though  the  effects 
are  well  known  to  be  a  weariness  of  life,  an  unconcern  about 
those  things  which  agitate  the  greater  part  of  mankind,  and 
a  general  sensation  of  gloomy  wretchedness'.  From  him 
then  his  son  inherited,  with  some  other  qualities,  '  a  vile 
melancholy,'  which  in  his  too  strong  expression  of  any  dis- 
turbance of  the  mind,  'made  him  mad  all  his  life,  at  least 
not  sober^'  Michael  was,  however,  forced  by  the  narrow- 
ness of  his  circumstances  to  be  very  diligent  in  business,  not 
only  in  his  shop",  but  by  occasionally  resorting  to  several 

fragments  of  his  Annals  escaped  the  flames.  One  of  these  was  never 
seen  by  Boswell ;  it  was  pubHshed  in  1805  under  the  title  of  An  Ac- 
count of  the  Lt'fe  of  Dr.  Samuel  "Johnson,  from  his  Birth  to  his  Eleventh 
Year,  written  by  himself.  In  this  he  says  (p.  14),  *  My  mother  had  no 
value  for  my  father's  relations  ;  those  indeed  whom  we  knew  of  were 
much  lower  than  hers.'  Writing  to  Mrs.  Thrale  on  his  way  to  Scot- 
land he  said  :  '  We  changed  our  horses  at  Darlington,  where  Mr.  Cor- 
nelius Harrison,  a  cousin-german  of  mine,  was  perpetual  curate.  He 
was  the  only  one  of  my  relations  who  ever  rose  in  fortune  above  pen- 
ury, or  in  character  above  neglect.'  Piozsi  Letters,  i.  105.  His  uncle 
Harrison  he  described  as  'a  very  mean  and  vulgar  man,  drunk  every 
night,  but  drunk  with  little  drink,  very  peevish,  very  proud,  very  osten- 
tatious, but  luckily  not  rich.'  Annals,  p.  28.  In  Notes  and  Queries,  6th 
S.  X.  465,  is  given  the  following  extract  of  the  marriage  of  Johnson's 
parents  from  the  Register  of  Packwood  in  Warwickshire  :— 

'1706,  Mickell  Johnsones  of  lichfield  and  Sara  ford  maried  June 
the  9th.' 

'  Mrs.  Piozzi  {Anec.  p.  3)  records  that  Johnson  told  her  that  'his 
father  was  wrong-headed,  positive,  and  afflicted  with  melancholy.' 

'  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  3rd  edit.  p.  213  [Sept.  i6j.  Bos- 
well. 

'  Stockdale  in  his  Memoirs,  ii.  102,  records  an  anecdote  told  him 

towns 


42  Cliaracier  of  Michael  yohiison.       [a.d.  1709. 


towns  in  the  neighbourhood',  some  of  which  were  at  a  con- 
siderable distance  from  Lichfield"'.  At  that  time  book- 
sellers' shops  in  the  provincial  towns  of  England  were  very 
rare,  so  that  there  was  not  one  even  in  Birmingham,  in 
which  town  old  Mr.  Johnson  used  to  open  a  shop  every 
market-day.  He  was  a  pretty  good  Latin  scholar,  and  a 
citizen  so  creditable  as  to  be  made  one  of  the  magistrates 
of  Lichfield';  and,  being  a  man  of  good  sense,  and  skill  in 

by  Johnson  of  '  the  generosity  of  one  of  the  customers  of  his  father. 
"This  man  was  purchasing  a  book,  and  pressed  my  father  to  let  liiin 
have  it  at  a  far  less  price  than  it  was  worth.  When  his  other  topics 
of  persuasion  failed,  he  had  recourse  to  one  argument  which,  he 
thought,  would  infallibly  prevail :  —  You  know,  Mr.  Johnson,  that  I 
buy  an  almanac  of  you  every  year."  ' 

'  Extract  of  a  letter,  dated  '  Trentham,  St.  Peter's  day,  1716,'  written 
by  the  Rev.  George  Plaxton,  Chaplain  at  that  time  to  Lord  Gower, 
which  may  serve  to  show  the  high  estimation  in  which  the  Father 
of  our  great  Moralist  was  held  :  'Johnson,  the  Litchfield  Librarian,  is 
now  here  ;  he  propagates  learning  all  over  this  diocese,  and  advanceth 
knowledge  to  its  just  height ;  all  the  Clergy  here  are  his  Pupils,  and 
suck  all  they  have  from  him ;  Allen  cannot  make  a  warrant  without 
his  precedent,  nor  our  quondam  John  Evans  draw  a  recognizance  sine 
directione  Michaelis.'    Gentlanaft's  Magazine.  October,  1 791 .   BOSWELL. 

*  In  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  S.  v.  33,  is  given  the  following  title-page 
of  one  of  his  books  '  i-apnaKo-ldaa-avos :  or  t/ic  Touchstone  of  Medicine 
etc.  By  Sir  John  Floyer  of  the  City  of  Litchfield,  Kt.,  M.D.,  of  Queens 
College,  Oxford.  London  :  Printed  for  Michael  Johnson,  Bookseller, 
and  are  to  be  sold  at  his  shops  at  Litchfield  and  Uttoxiter,  in  Staflford- 
shire;  and  Ashby-de-la-Zouch,  in  Leicestershire,  1687.' 

'  Johnson  writing  of  his  birth  says  :  '  My  father  being  that  year 
sheriff  of  Lichfield,  and  to  ride  the  circuit  of  the  county  [Mr.  Croker 
suggests  city,  not  being  aware  that  '  the  City  of  Lichfield  was  a  coun- 
ty in  itself.'  See  Harwood's  Lichfield,  p.  i.  In  like  manner,  in  the 
Militia  Bill  of  1756  {post  1756)  we  find  entered,  'Devonshire  with 
Exeter  City  and  County,'  '  Lincolnshire  with  Lincoln  City  and  Coun- 
ty'] next  day,  which  was  a  ceremony  then  performed  with  great  pomp, 
he  was  asked  by  my  mother  whom  he  would  invite  to  the  Riding ; 
and  answered,  "all  the  town  now."  He  feasted  the  citizens  with 
uncommon  magnificence,  and  was  the  last  but  one  that  maintained 
the  splendour  of  the  Riding,'  Annals,  p.  10.  He  served  the  office  of 
church-warden  in  1688;  of  sheriff  in  1709;  of  junior  bailiff  in  1718; 
and  senior  bailiff  in  1725.'     Harwood's  Lichfield,  p.  449. 

his 


A.D.  1709.]  An  incident  in  his  life.  43 

his  trade,  he  acquired  a  reasonable  share  of  wealth,  of  which 
however  he  afterwards  lost  the  greatest  part,  by  engaging 
unsuccessfully  in  a  manufacture  of  parchment'.  He  was  a 
zealous  high-church  man  and  royalist,  and  retained  his  attach- 
ment to  the  unfortunate  house  of  Stuart,  though  he  recon- 
ciled himself,  by  casuistical  arguments  of  expediency  and 
necessity,  to  take  the  oaths  imposed  by  the  prevailing  power\ 
There  is  a  circumstance  in  his  life  somewhat  romantick, 
but  so  well  authenticated,  that  I  shall  not  omit  it.  A  young 
woman  of  Leek,  in  Staffordshire,  while  he  served  his  appren- 
ticeship there,  conceived  a  violent  passion  for  him  ;  and 
though  it  met  with  no  favourable  return,  followed  him  to 
Lichfield,  where  she  took  lodgings  opposite  to  the  house  in 
which  he  lived,  and  indulged  her  hopeless  flame.     When  he 

'  *  My  fathe«  and  mother  had  not  much  happiness  from  each  other. 
They  seldom  conversed  ;  for  my  father  could  not  bear  to  talk  of  his 
affairs,  and  my  mother  being  unacquainted  with  books  cared  not  to 
talk  of  anything  else.  Had  my  mother  been  more  literate,  they  had 
been  better  companions.  She  might  have  sometimes  introduced  her 
unwelcome  topic  with  more  success,  if  she  could  have  diversified  her 
conversation.  Of  business  she  had  no  distinct  conception  ;  and  there- 
fore her  discourse  was  composed  only  of  complaint,  fear,  and  suspi- 
cion. Neither  of  them  ever  tried  to  calculate  the  profits  of  trade,  or 
the  expenses  of  living.  My  mother  concluded  that  we  were  poor, 
because  we  lost  by  some  of  our  trades ;  but  the  truth  was,  that  my 
father,  having  in  the  early  part  of  his  life  contracted  debts,  never  had 
trade  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  pay  them  and  maintain  his  family; 
he  got  something,  but  not  enough.'  Annals,  p.  14.  Mr.  Croker  no- 
ticing the  violence  of  Johnson's  language  against  the  Excise,  with 
great  acuteness  suspected  'some  cause  of  personal  animosity;  this 
mention  of  the  trade  in  parchment  (an  exciseable  article)  afforded  a 
clue,  which  has  led  to  the  confirmation  of  that  suspicion.'  In  the 
records  of  the  Excise  Board  is  to  be  found  the  following  letter,  ad- 
dressed to  the  supervisor  of  excise  at  Lichfield :  'July  27,  1725.  The 
Commissioners  received  yours  of  the  22nd  instant,  and  since  the 
justices  would  not  give  judgment  against  Mr.  Michael  Johnson,  the 
tanner,  notwithstanding  the  facts  were  fairly  against  him,  the  Board 
direct  that  the  next  time  he  oftends,  you  do  not  lay  an  information 
against  him,  but  send  an  affidavit  of  the  fact,  that  he  may  be  prose- 
cuted in  the  Exchequer.' 

•  See/i7j/,  March  27,  1775. 

was 


44  Sarah  yohnson.  [a. d.  1712. 

was  informed  that  it  so  preyed  upon  her  mind  that  her  h'fe 
was  in  danger,  he  with  a  generous  humanity  went  to  her 
and  offered  to  marry  her,  but  it  was  then  too  late :  her  vital 
power  was  exhausted  ;  and  she  actually  exhibited  one  of  the 
very  rare  instances  of  dying  for  love.  She  was  buried  in 
the  cathedral  of  Lichfield  ;  and  he,  with  a  tender  regard, 
placed  a  stone  over  her  grave  with  this  inscription  : 

Here  lies  the  body  of 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Blaney,  a  stranger. 

She  departed  this  life 

20  of  September,  1694. 

Johnson's  mother  was  a  woman  of  distinguished  under- 
standing. I  asked  his  old  school-fellow,  Mr.  Hector,  surgeon 
of  Birmingham,  if  she  was  not  vain  of  her  son.  He  said, 
'  she  had  too  much  good  sense  to  be  vain,  but  she  knew  her 
son's  value.'  Her  piety  was  not  inferiour  to  her  understand- 
ing ;  and  to  her  must  be  ascribed  those  early  impressions  of 
religion  upon  the  mind  of  her  son,  from  which  the  world 
afterwards  derived  so  much  benefit.  He  told  me,  that  he 
remembered  distinctly  having  had  the  first  notice  of  Heaven, 
'  a  place  to  which  good  people  went,'  and  hell,  '  a  place  to 
which  bad  people  went,'  communicated  to  him  by  her,  when 
a  little  child  in  bed  with  her';  and  that  it  might  be  the 
better  fixed  in  his  memory,  she  sent  him  to  repeat  it  to 
Thomas  Jackson,  their  man-servant ;  he  not  being  in  the 
way,  this  was  not  done  ;  but  there  was  no  occasion  for  any 
artificial  aid  for  its  preservation. 

In  following  so  very  eminent  a  man  from  his  cradle  to  his 
grave,  every  minute  particular,  which  can  throw  light  on  the 
progress  of  his  mind,  is  interesting.  That  he  was  remark- 
able, even  in  his  earliest  years,  may  easily  be  supposed  ;  for 
to  use  his  own  words  in  his  Life  of  Sydenham, 

1  '  I  remember,  that  being  in  bed  with  my  mother  one  morning,  I 
was  told  by  her  of  the  two  places  to  which  the  inhabitants  of  this 
world  were  received  after  death  :  one  a  fine  place  filled  with  happi- 
ness, called  Heaven  ;  the  other,  a  sad  place,  called  Hell.  That  this 
account  much  affected  my  imagination  I  do  not  remember.'  Annals, 
p.  19. 

That 


Aetat.  3.]      Anecdotes  of  yohnsons  childhood.  45 

*  That  the  strength  of  his  understanding,  the  accuracy  of  his  dis- 
cernment, and  ardour  of  his  curiosity,  might  have  been  remarked 
from  his  infancy,  by  a  diligent  observer,  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt.  For,  there  is  no  instance  of  any  man,  whose  history  has 
been  minutely  related,  that  did  not  in  every  part  of  life  discover 
the  same  proportion  of  intellectual  vigour'.' 

In  all  such  investigations  it  is  certainly  unwise  to  pay  too 
much  attention  to  incidents  which  the  credulous  relate 
with  eager  satisfaction,  and  the  more  scrupulous  or  witty  en- 
quirer considers  only  as  topicks  of  ridicule :  Yet  there  is 
a  traditional  story  of  the  infant  Hercules  of  toryism,  so 
curiously  characteristick,  that  I  shall  not  withhold  it.  It 
was  communicated  to  me  in  a  letter  from  Miss  Mary  Adye, 
of  Lichfield: 

'  When  Dr.  Sacheverel  was  at  Lichfield,  Johnson  was  not  quite 
three  years  old.  My  grandfather  Hammond  observed  him  at  the 
cathedral  perched  upon  his  father's  shoulders,  listening  and  gaping 
at  the  much  celebrated  preacher.  Mr.  Hammond  asked  Mr.  John- 
son how  he  could  possibly  think  of  bringing  such  an  infant  to 
church,  and  in  the  midst  of  so  great  a  croud.  He  answered,  be- 
cause it  was  impossible  to  keep  him  at  home  ;  for,  young  as  he 
was,  he  believed  he  had  caught  the  publick  spirit  and  zeal  for 
Sacheverel,  and  would  have  staid  for  ever  in  the  church,  satisfied 
with  beholding  him  I' 

'  Johnson's  Works,  vi.  406. 

^  Mr.  Croker  disbelieves  the  story  altogether.  '  Sacheverel,"  he 
says,  'by  his  sentence  pronounced  in  Feb.  17 10,  was  interdicted  for 
three  years  from  preaching ;  so  that  he  could  not  have  preached  at 
Lichfield  while  Johnson  was  under  three  years  of  age.  Sacheverel, 
indeed,  made  a  triumphal  progress  through  the  midland  counties  in 
1710 ;  and  it  appears  by  the  books  of  the  corporation  of  Lichfield  that 
he  was  received  in  that  town,  and  complimented  by  the  attendance  of 
the  corporation,  "and  a  present  of  three  dozen  of  wine,"  on  June  16, 
1710 ;  but  then  "the  infant  Hercules  of  Toryz'sin  "  was  just  «/«<?  months 
old.'  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  story  is  in  the  mam  correct.  Sache- 
verel was  received  in  Lichfield  in  1710  on  his  way  down  to  Shropshire 
to  take  possession  of  a  living.  At  the  end  of  the  suspension  in  March 
1713  he  preached  a  sermon  in  London,  for  which,  as  he  told  Swift, 
'a  bookseller   gave   him   ;^ioo,  intending   to   print   30.000'  (Swift's 

Nor 


46  Johnsons  infant  precocity.  [a.d.  1712. 

Nor  can  I  omit  a  little  instance  of  that  jealous  indepen- 
dence of  spirit,  and  impetuosity  of  temper,  which  never  for- 
sook him.  The  fact  was  acknowledged  to  me  by  himself, 
upon  the  authority  of  his  mother.  One  day,  when  the  ser- 
vant who  used  to  be  sent  to  school  to  conduct  him  home, 
had  not  come  in  time,  he  set  out  by  himself,  though  he  was 
then  so  near-sighted,  that  he  was  obliged  to  stoop  down  on 
his  hands  and  knees  to  take  a  view  of  the  kennel  before  he 
ventured  to  step  over  it.  His  school-mistress,  afraid  that  he 
might  miss  his  way,  or  fall  into  the  kennel,  or  be  run  over  by 
a  cart,  followed  him  at  some  distance.  He  happened  to 
turn  about  and  perceive  her.  TY^-ling  her  careful  attention 
as  an  insult  to  his  manliness,  he  ran  back  to  her  in  a  rage, 
and  beat  her,  as  well  as  his  strength  would  permit. 

Of  the  power  of  his  memory,  for  which  he  was  all  his  life 
eminent  to  a  degree  almost  incredible ',  the  following  early 
instance  was  told  me  in  his  presence  at  Lichfield,  in  1776, 
by  his  step-daughter,  Mrs.  Lucy  Porter,  as  related  to  her  by 
his  mother.  When  he  was  a  child  in  petticoats,  and  had 
learnt  to  read,  Mrs.  Johnson  one  morning  put  the  common 
prayer-book  into  his  hands,  pointed  to  the  collect  for  the  day, 
and  said,  '  Sam,  you  must  get  this  by  heart.'  She  went  up 
stairs,  leaving  him  to  study  it :  But  by  the  time  she  had 
reached  the  second  floor,  she  heard  him  following  her. 
'What's  the  matter?'  said  she.  'I  can  say  it,"  he  replied, 
and  repeated  it  distinctly,  though  he  could  not  have  read  it 
more  than  twice. 

But  there  has  been  another  story  of  his  infant  precocity 
generally  circulated,  and  generally  believed,  the  truth  of 
which  I  am  to  refute  upon  his  own  authority.  It  is  told*, 
that,  when  a  child  of  three  years  old,  he  chanced  to  tread 

'Journal  to  Stella,  April  2,  171 3).  It  is  likely  enough  that  either  on 
his  way  up  to  town  or  on  his  return  journey  he  preached  at  Lichfield. 
In  the  spring  of  171 3  Johnson  was  three  years  old. 

'  See  post,  p.  56,  and  April  25,  1778,  note;  and  Boswell's  Hebrides, 
Oct.  28,  1773. 

*  Anecdotes  of  Dr.  Johnson,  by  Hester  Lynch  Piozzi,  p.  11.  Lz/e  of 
Dr.  Johnson,  by  Sir  John  Hawkins,  p.  6.     Boswell. 

upon 


A.D.  1712.]  Johnson  s  infant  precocity.  47 

upon  a  duckling,  the  eleventh  of  a  brood,  and  killed  it ; 
upon  which,  it  is  said,  he  dictated  to  his  mother  the  follow- 
ing epitaph  : 

*  Here  lies  good  master  duck, 

Whom  Samuel  Johnson  trod  on  ; 
If  it  had  liv'd,  it  had  been  good  luck, 
For  then  we'd  had  an  odd  one.' 

There  is  surely  internal  evidence  that  this  little  composition 
combines  in  it,  what  no  child  of  three  years  old  could  pro- 
duce, without  an  extension  of  its  faculties  by  immediate  in- 
spiration ;  yet  Mrs.  Lucy  Porter,  Dr.  Johnson's  step-daughter, 
positively  maintained  to  me,  in  his  presence,  that  there  could 
be  no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  this  anecdote,  for  she  had  heard 
it  from  his  mother.  So  difificult  is  it  to  obtain  an  authen- 
tick  relation  of  facts,  and  such  authority  may  there  be  for 
errour;  for  he  assured  me,  that  his  father  made  the  verses, 
and  wished  to  pass  them  for  his  child's.  He  added,  '  my 
father  was  a  foolish  old  man ' ;  that  is  to  say,  foolish  in  talk- 
ing of  his  children  \' 

>  '  My  father  had  much  vanity  which  his  adversity  hindered  from 
being  fully  exerted.'     Annals,  p.  14. 

*  This  anecdote  of  the  duck,  though  disproved  by  internal  and  ex- 
ternal evidence,  has  nevertheless,  upon  supposition  of  its  truth,  been 
made  the  foundation  of  the  following  ingenious  and  fanciful  reflec- 
tions of  Miss  Seward,  amongst  the  communications  concerning  Dr. 
Johnson  with  which  she  has  been  pleased  to  favour  me :  '  These  in- 
fant numbers  contain  the  seed  of  those  propensities  which  through 
his  life  so  strongly  marked  his  character,  of  that  poetick  talent  which 
afterwards  bore  such  rich  and  plentiful  fruits ;  for,  excepting  his  or- 
thographick  works,  every  thing  which  Dr.  Johnson  wrote  was  Poetry, 
whose  essence  consists  not  in  numbers,  or  in  jingle,  but  in  the  strength 
and  glow  of  a  fancy,  to  which  all  the  stores  of  nature  and  of  art  stand 
in  prompt  administration ;  and  in  an  eloquence  which  conveys  their 
blended  illustrations  in  a  language  "more  tuneable  than  needs  or 
rhyme  or  verse  to  add  more  harmony." 

'The  above  little  verses  also  shew  that  superstitious  bias  which 
"grew  with  his  growth,  and  strengthened  with  his  strength,"  and,  of 
late  years  particularly,  injured  his  happiness,  by  presenting  to  him 
the  gloomy  side  of  religion,  rather  than  that  bright  and  cheering  one 
which  gilds  the  period  of  closing  life  with  the  light  of  pious  hope.' 

Young 


48  His  eyesight,  [Aetat.  3. 

Young  Johnson  had  the  misfortune  to  be  much  afflicted 
with  the  scrophula,  or  king's  evil,  which  disfigured  a  counte- 
nance naturally  well  formed,  and  hurt  his  visual  nerves  so 
much,  that  he  did  not  see  at  all  with  one  of  his  eyes,  though 
its  appearance  was  little  difTerent  from  that  of  the  other. 
There  is  amongst  his  prayers,  one  inscribed  '  When  viy  KYE 
was  restored  to  its  7ise\'  which  ascertains  a  defect  that  many 
of  his  friends  knew  he  had,  though  I  never  perceived  W.  I 
supposed  him  to  be  only  near-sighted  ;  and  indeed  I  must 
observe,  that  in  no  other  respect  could  I  discern  any  defect 
in  his  vision  ;  on  the  contrary,  the  force  of  his  attention  and 
perceptive  quickness  made  him  see  and  distinguish  all  man- 
ner of  objects,  whether  of  nature  or  of  art,  with  a  nicety  that 
is  rarely  to  be  found.  When  he  and  I  were  travelling  in  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland,  and  I  pointed  out  to  him  a  mountain 
which  I  observed  resembled  a  cone,  he  corrected  my  inac- 
curacy, by  shewing  me,  that  it  was  indeed  pointed  at  the 
top,  but  that  one  side  of  it  was  larger  than  the  other".  And 
the  ladies  with  whom  he  was  acquainted  agree,  that  no  man 
was  more  nicely  and  minutely  critical  in  the  elegance  of 
female  dress*.  When  I  found  that  he  saw  the  romantick 
beauties  of  Islam,  in  Derbyshire,  much  better  than  I  did,  1 

This  is  so  beautifully  imagined,  that  I  would  not  suppress  it.  But 
like  many  other  theories,  it  is  deduced  from  a  supposed  fact,  which  is, 
indeed,  a  fiction.     Boswell. 

'  Prayers  and  Meditations,  p.  27.     BoswELL. 

"  Speaking  himself  of  the  imperfection  of  one  of  his  eyes,  he  said  to 
Dr.  Burney,  'the  dog  was  never  good  for  much.'     Malone. 

^  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Sept.  i,  1773. 

*  'No  accidental  position  of  a  riband,'  wrote  Mrs.  Piozzi, '  escaped 
him,  so  nice  was  his  observation,  and  so  rigorous  his  demands  of  pro- 
priety.' Piozzi's  Anec.  p.  287.  Miss  Burney  .says  : — '  Notwithstanding 
Johnson  is  sometimes  so  absent  and  always  so  near-sighted,  he  scru- 
tinizes into  every  part  of  almost  everybody's  appearance  [at  Streat- 
ham].'  And  again  she  writes  : — '  His  blindness  is  as  much  the  efTect 
of  absence  [of  mind]  as  of  infirmity,  for  he  sees  wonderfully  at  times. 
He  can  see  the  colour  of  a  lady's  top-knot,  for  he  often  finds  fault 
with  it.'  Mine.  UArblays  Diary,  i.  85,  ii.  174.  He  could,  when  well, 
distinguish  the  hour  on  Lichfield  town-clock.    Post,  p.  74. 

told 


The  king's  evil.  49 

told  him  that  he  resembled  an  able  performer  upon  a  bad 
instrument '.  How  false  and  contemptible  then  are  all  the 
remarks  which  have  been  made  to  the  prejudice  either  of  his 
candour  or  of  his  philosophy,  founded  upon  a  supposition 
that  he  was  almost  blind.  It  has  been  said,  that  he  con- 
tracted this  grievous  malady  from  his  nurse".  His  mother 
yielding  to  the  superstitious  notion,  which,  it  is  wonderful  to 
think,  prevailed  so  long  in  this  country,  as  to  the  virtue  of 
the  regal  touch  ;  a  notion,  which  our  kings  encouraged,  and 
to  which  a  man  of  such  inquiry  and  such  judgement  as 
Carte'  could  give  credit;  carried  him  to  London,  where  he 

1  See  post,  Sept.  22,  1777. 

"  This  was  Dr.  Swinfen's  opinion,  who  seems  also  to  have  attributed 
Johnson's  short-sightedness  to  the  same  cause.  'My  mother,'  he 
says,  'thought  my  diseases  derived  from  her  family.'  Annals,  p.  12. 
When  he  was  put  lOut  at  nurse, '  She  visited  me,'  he  says, '  every  day, 
and  used  to  go  different  ways,  that  her  assiduity  might  not  expose  her 
to  ridicule.' 

^  In  1738  Carte  published  a  masterly  '  Account  of  Materials,  etc.,  for 
a  History  of  England  with  the  method  of  his  undertaking.'  {Gent. 
Mag.  viii.  227.)  He  proposed  to  do  much  of  what  has  been  since 
done  under  the  direction  of  the  Master  of  the  Rolls.  He  asked  for 
subscriptions  to  carry  on  his  great  undertaking,  for  in  its  researches 
it  was  to  be  very  great.  In  1744  the  City  of  London  resolved  to  sub- 
scribe ^50  for  seven  years  (ib.  xiv.  393).  In  vol.  i.  of  his  history,  which 
only  came  down  to  the  reign  of  John  (published  in  1748),  he  went  out 
of  his  way  to  assert  that  the  cure  by  the  king's  touch  was  not  due  to 
the  '  regal  unction '  /  for  he  had  known  a  man  cured  who  had  gone  over 
to  France,  and  had  been  there  '  touched  by  the  eldest  lineal  descend- 
ant of  a  race  of  kings  who  had  not  at  that  time  been  crowned  or 
anointed:  (ib.  xviii.  13.)  Thereupon  the  Court  of  Common  Council 
by  a  unanimous  vote  withdrew  its  subscription,  (ib.  185).  The  old 
Jacobites  maintained  that  the  power  did  not  descend  to  Mary,  Will- 
iam, or  Anne.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  Boswell  said  that  Johnson 
should  have  been  taken  to  Rome ;  though  indeed  it  was  not  till  some 
years  after  he  was  '  touched'  by  Queen  Anne  that  the  Pretender  dwelt 
there.  The  Hanoverian  kings  never  'touched.'  The  service  for  the 
ceremony  was  printed  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  as  late  as  1719. 
{Penny  Cyclo.  xxi.  113.)  'It  appears  by  the  newspapers  of  the  time.' 
says  Mr.  Wright,  quoted  by  Croker,  'that  on  March  30,  171 2,  two 
hundred  persons  were  touched  by  Queen  Anne.'  Macaulay  says  that 
I.— 4  ^'"^^ 


50  yoknson  at  a  dames  school. 


was  actually  touched  by  Queen  Anne.  Mrs.  Johnson  in- 
deed, as  Mr.  Hector  informed  me,  acted  by  the  advice  of  the 
celebrated  Sir  John  Ployer',  then  a  physician  in  Lichfield. 
Johnson  used  to  talk  of  this  very  frankly  ;  and  Mrs.  Piozzi 
has  preserved  his  very  picturesque  description  of  the  scene, 
as  it  remained  upon  his  fancy.  Being  asked  if  he  could  re- 
member Queen  Anne,  '  \\c  had  (he  said)  a  confused,  but 
somehow  a  sort  of  solemn  recollection  of  a  lady  in  diamonds, 
and  a  long  black  hood'.'  This  touch,  however,  was  without 
any  effect.  I  ventured  to  say  to  him,  in  allusion  to  the 
political  principles  in  which  he  was  educated,  and  of  which 
he  ever  retained  some  odour,  that  '  his  mother  had  not  car- 
ried him  far  enough  ;  she  should  have  taken  him  to  RoMP:.' 
He  was  first  taught  to  read  English  by  Dame  Oliver \  a 
widow,  who  kept  a  school  for  young  children  in  Lichfield. 
He  told  me  she  could  read  the  black  letter,  and  asked  him 
to  borrow  for  her,  from  his  father,  a  bible  in  that  character. 
When  he  was  going  to  Oxford,  she  came  to  take  leave  of 
him,  brought  him,  in  the  simplicity  of  her  kindness,  a  present 
of  gingerbread,  and  said,  he  was  the  best  scholar  she  ever 
had.  He  delighted  in  mentioning  this  early  compliment: 
adding,  with  a  smile,  that  '  this  was  as  high  a  proof  of  his 
merit  as  he  could  conceive.'  His  next  instructor  in  English 
was  a  master,  whom,  when  he  spoke  of  him  to  me,  he 
familiarly  called  Tom  Brown,  who,  said  he,  '  published  a 
spelling-book,  and  dedicated  it  to  the  UNIVERSE ;  but.  I 
fear,  no  copy  of  it  can  now  be  had*.' 

'Charles  the  Second,  in  the  course  of  his  reign,  touched  near  a  hun- 
dred thousand  persons.  .  .  .  The  expense  of  the  ceremony  was  little 
less  than  ten  thousand  pounds  a  year.'     Macaulay's  Engla}id,  ch.  xiv. 

'  S&e.  post,  p.  io6,  note. 

-  Anecdotes,  p.  lo.     BOSWELL. 

'  Johnson,  writing  of  Addison's  schoolmasters,  says: — 'Not  to  name 
the  school  or  the  masters  of  men  illustrious  for  literature  is  a  kind  of 
historical  fraud,  by  which  honest  fame  is  injuriously  dim.inished.  I 
would  therefore  trace  him  through  the  whole  process  of  his  educa- 
tion.'    Johnson's  lVo>-ks,v\\.  /i^i^. 

*  Neither  the  British  Museum  nor  the  Bodleian  Library  has  a  copy. 

He 


Lichfield  School.  51 


He  began  to  learn  Latin'  with  Mr.  Hawkins,  usher,  or 
under-master  of  Lichfield  school,  '  a  man  (said  he)  very  skil- 
ful in  his  little  way.'  With  him  he  continued  two  years*, 
and  then  rose  to  be  under  the  care  of  Mr.  Hunter,  the  head- 
master, who,  according  to  his  account, '  was  very  severe,  and 
wrong-headedly  severe.  He  used  (said  he)  to  beat  us  un- 
mercifully ;  and  he  did  not  distinguish  between  ignorance 
and  negligence ;  for  he  would  beat  a  boy  equally  for  not 
knowing  a  thing,  as  for  neglecting  to  know  it.  He  would 
ask  a  boy  a  question  ;  and  if  he  did  not  answer  it,  he  would 
beat  him,  without  considering  whether  he  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  knowing  how  to  answer  it.  For  instance,  he 
would  call  up  a  boy  and  ask  him  Latin  for  a  candlestick, 
which  the  boy  could  not  expect  to  be  asked.  Now,  Sir,  if  a 
boy  could  answer  every  question,  there  would  be  no  need  of 
a  master  to  teach  him.' 

It  is,  however,  but  justice  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Hunter 
to  mention,  that  though  he  might  err  in  being  too  severe, 
the  school   of  Lichfield  was  very  respectable  in  his  time'. 

'  '  When  we  learned  Propria  quce  maribus,  we  were  examined  in  the 
Accidence ;  particularly  we  formed  verbs,  that  is,  went  through  the 
same  person  in  all  the  moods  and  tenses.  This  was  very  difficult  to 
me,  and  I  was  once  very  anxious  about  the  next  day,  when  this  exer- 
cise was  to  be  performed  in  which  I  had  failed  till  I  was  discouraged. 
My  mother  encouraged  me,  and  I  proceeded  better.  When  I  told 
her  of  my  good  escape,  "We  often."  said  she,  dear  mother!  "come 
ofif  best  when  we  are  most  afraid."  She  told  me  that,  once  when  she 
asked  me  about  forming  verbs,  I  said,  "  I  did  not  form  them  in  an 
ugly  shape."  "  You  could  not,"  said  she,  "  speak  plain ;  and  I  was 
proud  that  I  had  a  boy  who  was  forming  verbs."  These  little  memo- 
rials soothe  my  mind.'     Atwa/s,  p.  22. 

*  '  This  was  the  course  of  the  school  which  I  remember  with  pleas- 
ure ;  for  I  was  indulged  and  caressed  by  my  master ;  and,  I  think, 
really  excelled  the  rest.'     Annals,  p.  25. 

'  Johnson  said  of  Hunter :—' Abating  his  brutality,  he  was  a  very 
good  master;'  post,  March  21,  1772.  Steele  in  the  Spectator,  No.  157. 
two  years  after  Johnson's  birth,  describes  these  savage  tyrants  of  the 
grammar-schools.  '  The  boasted  liberty  we  talk  of,'  he  writes, '  is  but 
a  mean  reward  for  the  long  servitude,  the  many  heartaches  and  ter- 
rors to  which  our  childhood  is  exposed  in  going  through  a  grammar- 

The 


52  Johnson  s  school-fellows. 


The  late  Dr.  Taylor,  Prebendary  of  Westminster,  who  was 
educated  under  him,  told  me,  that  '  he  was  an  excellent 
master,  and  that  his  ushers  were  most  of  them  men  of  emi- 
nence ;  that  Holbrook,  one  of  the  most  ingenious  men, 
best  scholars,  and  best  preachers  of  his  age,  was  usher  dur- 
ing the  greatest  part  of  the  time  that  Johnson  was  at 
school'.  Then  came  Hague,  of  whom  as  much  might  be 
.said,  with  the  addition  that  he  was  an  elegant  poet.  Hague 
was  succeeded  by  Green,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 
whose  character  in  the  learned  world  is  well  known'.  In 
the  same  form  with  Johnson  was  Congreve',  who  after- 
wards became  chaplain  to  Archbishop  Boulter,  and  by  that 
connection  obtained  good  i)rcfernunt  in  Ireland.  He  was 
a  younger  son  of  the  ancient  famil)'  of  Congreve,  in  Staf- 
fordshire, of  which   the   poet   was  a   branch.     His  brother 

school.  .  .  .  No  one  who  has  gone  through  what  they  call  a  great 
school  but  must  remember  to  have  seen  children  of  excellent  and  in- 
genuous natures  (as  has  afterwards  appeared  in  their  manhood);  I 
say  no  man  has  passed  through  this  way  of  education  but  must  have 
seen  an  ingenuous  creature  expiring  with  shame,  with  pale  looks,  be- 
seeching sorrow  and  silent  tears,  throw  up  its  honest  eyes  and  kneel 
on  its  tender  knees  to  an  inexorable  blockhead  to  be  forgiven  the 
false  quantity  of  a  word  in  making  a  Latin  verse.'  Likely  enough 
Johnson's  roughness  was  in  part  due  to  this  brutal  treatment:  for 
Steele  goes  on  to  say : — '  It  is  wholly  to  this  dreadful  practice  that  we 
may  attribute  a  certain  hardiness  and  ferocity  which  some  men,  though 
liberally  educated,  carry  about  them  in  all  their  behaviour.  To  be 
bred  like  a  gentleman,  and  punished  like  a  malefactor,  must,  as  we 
see  It  does,  produce  that  illiberal  sauciness  which  we  see  sometimes 
in  men  of  letters.' 

'  Johnson  described  him  as  'a  peevish  and  ill-tempered  man,' and 
not  so  good  a  scholar  or  teacher  as  Taylor  made  out.  Once  the  boys 
perceived  that  he  did  not  understand  a  part  of  the  Latin  lesson  ;  an- 
other time,  when  sent  up  to  the  upper-master  to  be  punished,  they 
had  to  complain  that  when  they  '  could  not  get  the  passage,'  the  as- 
sistant would  not  help  them.     Annals,  pp.  26,  32. 

*  One  of  the  contributors  to  the  At/iem'an  Letters.  See  Gent.  Mag. 
liv.  276. 

*  Johnson, /o.y/,  March  22,  1776,  describes  him  as  one  'who  does  not 
get  drunk,  for  he  is  a  very  pious  man,  but  he  is  always  muddy.' 

sold 


Mr.  Hunter.  53 

sold  the  estate.     There  was  also  I.owe,  afterwards  Canon  of 
Windsor'.' 

Indeed  Johnson  was  very  sensible  how  much  he  owed  to 
Mr,  Hunter.  Mr.  Langton  one  day  asked  him  how  he  had 
acquired  so  accurate  a  knowledge  of  Latin,  in  which,  I  be- 
lieve, he  was  exceeded  by  no  man  of  his  time ;  he  said,  '  My 
master  whipt  me  very  well.  Without  that.  Sir,  I  should 
have  done  nothing.'  He  told  Mr.  Langton,  that  while 
Hunter  was  flogging  his  boys  unmercifully,  he  used  to  say, 
'  And  this  I  do  to  save  you  from  the  gallows.'  Johnson, 
upon  all  occasions,  expressed  his  approbation  of  enforcing 
instruction  by  means  of  the  rod\     *  I  would  rather  (said  he) 

'  A  tradition  had  reached  Johnson  through  his  school-fellow  An- 
drew Corbet  that  Addison  had  been  at  the  school  and  had  been  the 
leader  in  a  barring  out.  (Johnson's  W^icr/fj.vii.  419).  Garrick  entered 
the  school  about  two  years  after  Johnson  left.  According  to  Garrick's 
biographer,  Tom  Davies  (p.  3), '  Hunter  was  an  odd  mixture  of  the  ped- 
ant and  the  sportsman.  Happy  was  the  boy  who  could  slily  inform 
his  offended  master  where  a  covey  of  partridges  was  to  be  found  ;  this 
notice  was  a  certain  pledge  of  his  pardon.'  Lord  Campbell  in  his  Lives 
of  the  Chief  Justices,  ii.  279,  says  : — '  Hunter  is  celebrated  for  having 
flogged  seven  boys  who  afterwards  sat  as  judges  in  the  superior  courts 
at  Westminster  at  the  same  time.  Among  these  were  Chief  Justice 
Wilmot,  Lord  Chancellor  Northington.  Sir  T.  Clarke,  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  Chief  Justice  Willes,  and  Chief  Baron  Parker.  It  is  remark- 
able that,  although  Johnson  and  Wilmot  were  several  years  class- 
fellows  at  Lichfield,  there  never  seems  to  have  been  the  slightest 
intercourse  between  them  in  after  life ;  but  the  Chief  Justice  used 
frequently  to  mention  the  Lexicographer  as  "a  long,  lank,  lounging 
boy,  whom  he  distinctly  remembered  to  have  been  punished  by  Hun- 
ter for  idleness."  '  Lord  Campbell  blunders  here.  Northington  and 
Clarke  were  from  Westminster  School  (Campbell's  Chance/lors.v.  176). 
The  school-house,  famous  though  it  was,  was  allowed  to  fall  into  decay. 
A  writer  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  in  1794  (p.  413)  says  that  '  it  is  now  in  a 
state  of  dilapidation,  and  unfit  for  the  use  of  either  the  master  or  boys.' 

•  Johnson's  observation  to  Dr.  Rose,  on  this  subject,  deserves  to  be 
recorded.  Rose  was  praising  the  mild  treatment  of  children  at  school, 
at  a  time  when  flogging  began  to  be  less  practised  than  formerly: 
'  But  then,  (said  Johnson,)  they  get  nothing  else  :  and  what  they  gain 
at  one  end,  they  lose  at  the  other.'     Burney.     See  post,  under  Dec. 

17.  1775- 

have 


54  ^'^'  Hunter. 


have  the  rod  to  be  the  general  terrour  to  all,  to  make  them 
learn,  than  tell  a  child,  if  you  do  thus,  or  thus,  you  will  be 
more  esteemed  than  your  brothers  or  sisters.  The  rod  pro- 
duces an  effect  which  terminates  in  itself.  A  child  is  afraid 
of  being  whipped,  and  gets  his  task,  and  there's  an  end  on't ; 
whereas,  by  exciting  emulation  and  comparisons  of  superior- 
ity, you  lay  the  foundation  of  lasting  mischief ;  you  make 
brothers  and  sisters  hate  each  other'.' 

When  Johnson  saw  some  young  ladies  in  Lincolnshire 
who  were  remarkably  well  behaved,  owing  to  their  mother's 
strict  discipline  and  severe  correction",  he  exclaimed,  in  one 
of  Shakspeare's  lines  a  little  varied, 

''Rod,  I  will  honour  thee  for  this  thy  duty'.' 

'  This  passage  is  quoted  from  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Aug.  24,  1773. 
Mr.  Boyd  had  told  Johnson  that  Lady  Errol  did  not  use  force  or  fear 
in  educating  her  children ;  whereupon  he  replied,  '  Sir,  she  is  wrong,' 
and  continued  in  the  words  of  the  text. 

Gibbon  in  his  Autobiography  says  :  —  '  The  domestic  discipline  of 
our  ancestors  has  been  rela.xed  by  the  philosophy  and  softness  of  the 
age :  and  if  my  father  remembered  that  he  had  trembled  before  a 
stern  parent,  it  was  only  to  adopt  with  his  son  an  opposite  mode  of 
behaviour.'  Gibbon's  Works,  i.  112.  Lord  Chesterfield  writing  to  a 
friend  on  Oct.  iS,  1752,  says  : — •'  Pray  let  my  godson  never  know  what 
a  blow  or  a  whipping  is,  unless  for  those  things  for  which,  were  he  a 
man,  he  would  deserve  them ;  such  as  lying,  cheating,  making  mis- 
chief, and  meditated  malice.'     Chesterfield's  Misc.  Works,  iv.  130. 

"  Johnson,  however,  hated  anything  that  came  near  to  tyranny  in 
the  management  of  children.  Writing  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  who  had  told 
him  that  she  had  on  one  occasion  gone  against  the  wish  of  her  nurses, 
he  said  : — '  That  the  nurses  fretted  will  supply  me  during  life  with  an 
additional  motive  to  keep  every  child,  as  far  as  is  possible,  out  of  a 
nurse's  power.  A  nurse  made  of  common  mould  will  have  a  pride 
in  overcoming  a  child's  reluctance.  There  are  few  minds  to  which 
tyranny  is  not  delightful ;  power  is  nothing  but  as  it  is  felt,  and  the 
delight  of  superiority  is  proportionate  to  the  resistance  overcome.' 
Piozzi  Letters,  ii.  67. 

*  '  Sword,  I  will  hallow  thee  for  this  thy  deed.'  2  Henry  VL  act  iv. 
so.  10.  John  Wesley's  mother,  writing  of  the  way  she  had  brought  up 
her  children,  boys  and  girls  alike,  says: — 'When  turned  a  year  old 
(and  some  before)  they  were  taught  to  fear  the  rod,  and  to  cry  softly ; 

That 


yolinson  a  King  of  men.  55 

That  superiority  over  his  fellows,  which  he  maintained 
with  so  much  dignity  in  his  march  through  life,  was  not 
assumed  from  vanity  and  ostentation,  but  was  the  natural 
and  constant  effect  of  those  extraordinary  powers  of  mind, 
of  which  he  could  not  but  be  conscious  by  comparison  ;  the 
intellectual  difference,  which  in  other  cases  of  comparison  of 
characters,  is  often  a  matter  of  undecided  contest,  being  as 
clear  in  his  case  as  the  superiority  of  stature  in  some  men 
above  others.  Johnson  did  not  strut  or  stand  on  tip-toe : 
He  only  did  not  stoop.  From  his  earliest  years  his  superior- 
ity was  perceived  and  acknowledged'.  He  was  from  the  be- 
ginning '' Xva^  dvSpcov,  a  king  of  men.  His  school-fellow,  Mr. 
Hector,  has  obligingly  furnished  me  with  many  particulars 
of  his  boyish  days":  and  assured  me  that  he  never  knew 
him  corrected  at  school,  but  for  talking  and  diverting  other 
boys  from  their  business.  He  seemed  to  learn  by  intuition ; 
for  though  indolence  and  procrastination  were  inherent  in 
his  constitution,  whenever  he  made  an  exertion  he  did  more 
than  any  one  else.  In  short,  he  is  a  memorable  instance 
of  what  has  been  often  observed,  that  the  boy  is  the  man 
in  miniature  :  and  that  the  distinguishing  characteristicks  of 
each  individual  are  the  same,  through  the  whole  course  of 
life.  His  favourites  used  to  receive  very  liberal  assistance 
from  him  ;  and  such  was  the  submission  and  deference  with 
which  he  was  treated,  such  the  desire  to  obtain  his  regard, 
that  three  of  the  boys,  of  whom  Mr.  Hector  was  sometimes 
one,  used  to  come  in  the  morning  as  his  humble  attendants, 
and  carry  him  to  school.     One  in  the  middle  stooped,  while 

by  which  means  they  escaped  abundance  of  correction  they  might 
otherwise  have  had.'     Wesley's  Jour}ial  i.  370. 

'  '  There  dwelt  at  Lichfield  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Butt,  to 
whose  house  on  holidays  he  was  ever  welcome.  The  children  in  the 
family,  perhaps  offended  with  the  rudeness  of  his  behaviour,  would 
frequently  call  him  the  great  boy,  which  the  father  once  overhearing 
said:— 'You  call  him  the  great  boy,  but  take  my  word  for  it,  he  will 
one  day  prove  a  great  man.'     Hawkins's  JoJuison,  p.  6. 

'  See  post,  March  22,  1776  and  Johnson's  visit  to  Birmingham  in 
Nov.  1784. 

he 


56  yohnsons  tenacious  memory. 

he  sat  upon  his  back,  and  one  on  each  side  supported  him  ; 
and  thus  he  was  borne  triumphant.  Such  a  proof  of  the 
early  predominance  of  intellectual  v'igour  is  very  remarkable, 
and  does  honour  to  human  nature.  Talking  to  me  once 
himself  of  his  being  much  distinguished  at  school,  he  told 
me,  '  they  never  thought  to  raise  me  by  comparing  me  to 
any  one  ;  they  never  said,  Johnson  is  as  good  a  scholar  as 
such  a  one ;  but  such  a  one  is  as  good  a  scholar  as  Johnson  ; 
and  this  was  said  but  of  one,  but  of  Lowe ;  and  I  do  not 
think  he  was  as  good  a  scholar.' 

He  discovered  a  great  ambition  to  excel,  which  roused 
him  to  counteract  his  indolence.  He  was  uncommonly  in- 
quisitive ;  and  his  memory  was  so  tenacious,  that  he  never 
forgot  any  thing  that  he  either  heard  or  read.  Mr.  Hector 
remembers  having  recited  to  him  eighteen  verses,  which, 
after  a  little  pause,  he  repeated  vcrbatijii,  varying  only  one 
epithet,  by  which  he  improved  the  line. 

He  never  joined  with  the  other  boys  in  their  ordinary 
diversions :  his  only  amusement  was  in  winter,  when  he  took 
a, pleasure  in  being  drawn  upon  the  ice  by  a  boy  barefooted, 
who  pulled  him  along  by  a  garter  fixed  round  him  ;  no  very 
easy  operation,  as  his  size  was  remarkably  large.  His  de- 
fective sight,  indeed,  prevented  him  from  enjoying  the  com- 
mon sports ;  and  he  once  pleasantly  remarked  to  me, '  how 
wonderfully  well  he  had  contrived  to  be  idle  without  them.' 
Lord  Chesterfield,  however,  has  justly  observed  in  one  of  his 
letters,  when  earnestly  cautioning  a  friend  against  the  per- 
nicious effects  of  idleness,  that  active  sports  are  not  to  be 
reckoned  idleness  in  young  people  ;  and  that  the  listless  tor- 
por of  doing  nothing,  alone  deserves  that  name'.  Of  this 
dismal  inertness  of  disposition,  Johnson  had  all  his  life  too 
great  a  share.  Mr.  Hector  relates,  that  '  he  could  not  oblige 
him  more  than  by  sauntering  away  the  hours  of  vacation  in 

'  'You  should  never  suffer  your  son  to  be  idle  one  minute.  I  do 
not  call  play,  of  which  he  ought  to  have  a  good  share,  idleness ;  but  I 
mean  sitting  still  in  a  chair  in  total  inaction  :  it  makes  boys  lazy  and 
indolent.'     Chesterfield's  Misc.  Works,  iv.  348. 

the 


His  fo7iciiicss  for  roiuances.  57 

the  fields,  during  which  he  was  more  engaged  in  talking  to 
himself  than  to  his  companion.' 

Dr.  Percy',  the  Bishop  of  Dromore,  who  was  long  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  him,  and  has  preserv^ed  a  few  anec- 
dotes concerning  him,  regretting  that  he  was  not  a  more 
diligent  collector,  informs  me,  that  '  when  a  boy  he  was  im- 
moderately fond  of  reading  romances  of  chivalr>',  and  he  re- 
tained his  fondness  for  them  through  life ;  so  that  (adds  his 
Lordship)  spending  part  of  a  summer*  at  my  parsonage- 
house  in  the  countr}',  he  chose  for  his  regular  reading  the 
old  Spanish  romance  of  Fclixmarte  of  Hircania,  in  folio, 
which  he  read  quite  through  \  Yet  I  have  heard  him  at- 
tribute to  these  extravagant  fictions  that  unsettled  turn  of 
mind  which  prevented  his  ever  fixing  in  any  profession.' 

1725:  ^TAT.  16. — After  having  resided  for  some  time 
at  the  house  of  his  uncle,  Cornelius  Ford',  Johnson  was,  at 
the  age  of  fifteen,  removed  to  the  school  of  Stourbridge,  in 
Worcestershire,  of  which  Mr.  Wentworth  was  then  master. 

'  The  author  of  the  Reliqties. 

'^  The  summer  of  1764. 

'  Johnson,  writing  of  Paradise  Lost,  book  ii.  1.  879,  says  : — '  In  the 
history  of  Don  Bellianis,  when  one  of  the  knights  approaches,  as  I 
remember,  the  castle  of  Brandezar  the  gates  are  said  to  open, 
grating  harsh  thunder  upon  their  brazett  hinges.'  Johnson's  ll'orks, 
V.  76.  See  post,  March  27,  1776,  where  '  he  had  with  him  upon  a  jaunt 
II  Palmerino  d'Inghilterra.'  Prior  says  of  Burke  that  'a  very  favour- 
ite study,  as  he  once  confessed  in  the  House  of  Commons,  was  the 
old  romances,  Pahnerin  of  England  and  Don  Belianis  of  Greece,  upon 
which  he  had  wasted  much  valuable  time.'     Prior's  Burke,  p.  9. 

*  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  2)  says  that  the  uncle  was  Dr.  Joseph  Ford  'a 
physician  of  great  eminence.'  .The  son.  Parson  Ford,  was  Cornelius. 
In  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Oct.  15,  1773,  Johnson  mentions  an  uncle  who 
very  likely  was  Dr.  Ford.  In  Notes  and  Queries,  5th  S.  v.  13,  it  is  shown 
that  by  the  will  of  the  widow  of  Dr.  Ford  the  Johnsons  received  ;i{^200 
in  1722.  On  the  same  page  the  Ford  pedigree  is  given,  where  it  is 
seen  that  Johnson  had  an  uncle  Cornelius.  It  has  been  stated  that 
'Johnson  was  brought  up  by  his  uncle  till  his  fifteenth  year.'  I  un- 
derstand Boswell  to  say  that  Johnson,  after  leaving  Lichfield  School, 
resided  for  some  time  with  his  uncle  before  going  to  Stourbridge. 

This 


58  Stourbridge  School. 

This  step  was  taken  by  the  advice  of  his  cousin,  the  Rever- 
end Mr.  Ford,  a  man  in  whom  both  talents  and  good  dispo- 
sitions were  disgraced  by  Hcentiousness ',  but  who  was  a  very 
able  judge  of  what  was  right.  At  this  school  he  did  not 
receive  so  much  benefit  as  was  expected.  It  has  been  said, 
that  he  acted  in  the  capacity  of  an  assistant  to  Mr.  Went- 
worth,  in  teaching  the  younger  boys.  '  Mr.  Wentuorth  (he 
told  me)  was  a  very  able  man,  but  an  idle  man,  and  to  me 
very  severe ;  but  I  cannot  blame  him  much.  I  was  then 
a  big  boy ;  he  saw  I  did  not  reverence  him  ;  and  that  he 
should  get  no  honour  by  me.  I  had  brought  enough  with 
me,  to  carry  me  through  ;  and  all  I  should  get  at  his  school 
would  be  ascribed  to  my  own  labour,  or  to  my  former  mas- 
ter.    Yet  he  taught  me  a  great  deal.' 

He  thus  discriminated,  to  Dr.  Percy,  Bishop  of  Dromore, 
his  progress  at  his  two  grammar-schools.  'At  one,  I  learnt 
much  in  the  school,  but  little  from  the  master ;  in  the  other, 
I  learnt  much  from  the  master,  but  little  in  the  school.' 

The  Bishop  also  informs  me,  that  '  Dr.  Johnson's  father, 
before  he  was  received  at  Stourbridge,  applied  to  have  him 
admitted  as  a  scholar  and  assistant  to  the  Reverend  Samuel 
Lea,  M.A.,  head  master  of  Newport  school,  in  Shropshire  (a 
very  diligent,  good  teacher,  at  that  time  in  high  reputation, 
under  whom  Mr.  Hollis"  is  said,  in  the  Memoirs  of  his  Life, 
to  have  been  also  educated ').     This  application  to  Mr.  Lea 

'  He  is  said  to  be  the  original  of  the  parson  in  Hogarth's  Modern 
Midnight  Conversation.     Boswell. 

In  the  Life  of  Fenton  Johnson  describes  Ford  as  '  a  clergyman  at 
that  time  too  well  known,  whose  abilities,  instead  of  furnishing  con- 
vivial merriment  to  the  voluptuous  and  dissolute,  might  have  enabled 
him  to  excel  among  the  virtuous  and  the  wise.'  Johnson's  Works, 
viii.  57.  Writing  to  Mrs.  Th rale  on  July  8,  1771,  he  says,  "I  would 
have  been  glad  to  go  to  Hagley  [close  to  Stourbridge]  for  I  should 
have  had  the  opportunity  of  recollecting  past  times,  and  wandering 
per  tnontes  notos  et  fltimina  nota,oi  recalling  the  images  of  sixteen, 
and  reviewing  my  conversations  with  poor  Ford.'  Piozzi  Letters,  i. 
42.     See  2i\sopost,  May  12,  1778.  -'  See  post,  April  20,  1781. 

'  As  was  likewise  the  Bishop  of  Dromore  many  years  afterwards. 
Boswell. 

was 


yohnso^is  youthful  compositions.  59 


was  not  successful ;  but  Johnson  had  afterwards  the  gratifi- 
cation to  hear  that  the  old  gentleman,  who  lived  to  a  very 
advanced  age,  mentioned  it  as  one  of  the  most  memorable 
events  of  his  life,  that  '  he  was  very  7iear  having  that  great 
man  for  his  scholar.' 

He  remained  at  Stourbridge  little  more  than  a  year,  and 
then  returned  home,  where  he  may  be  said  to  have  loitered, 
for  two  years,  in  a  state  very  unworthy  his  uncommon  abili- 
ties. He  had  already  given  several  proofs  of  his  poetical 
genius,  both  in  his  school-exercises  and  in  other  occasional 
compositions.  Of  these  I  have  obtained  a  considerable  col- 
lection, by  the  favour  of  Mr.  Wentworth,  son  of  one  of  his 
masters,  and  of  Mr.  Hector,  his  school -fellow  and  friend; 
from  which  I  select  the  following  specimens : 

Trafislation  <?/■  Virgil.     Pastoral  I. 

MELIBCEUS. 

Now,  Tityrus,  you,  supine  and  careless  laid, 
Play  on  your  pipe  beneath  this  beechen  shade ; 
While  wretched  we  about  the  world  must  roam, 
And  leave  our  pleasing  fields  and  native  home, 
Here  at  your  ease  you  sing  your  amorous  flame, 
And  the  wood  rings  with  Amarillis'  name. 

TITYRUS. 

Those  blessings,  friend,  a  deity  bestow'd, 
For  I  shall  never  think  him  less  than  God ; 
Oft  on  his  altar  shall  my  firstlings  lie. 
Their  blood  the  consecrated  stones  shall  dye : 
He  gave  my  flocks  to  graze  the  flowery  meads, 
And  me  to  tune  at  ease  th'  unequal  reeds. 

MELIBCEUS. 

My  admiration  only  I  exprest, 
(No  spark  of  envy  harbours  in  my  breast) 
That,  when  confusion  o'er  the  country  reigns, 
To  you  alone  this  happy  state  remains. 
Here  I,  though  faint  myself,  must  drive  my  goats, 
Far  from  their  antient  fields  and  humble  cots. 
This  scarce  I  lead,  who  left  on  yonder  rock 

Two 


6o  yohnsons  youthful  compositions. 

Two  tender  kids,  the  hopes  of  all  the  flock. 
Had  we  not  been  perverse  and  careless  grown, 
This  dire  event  by  omens  was  foreshown  ; 
Our  trees  were  blasted  by  the  thunder  stroke,     ) 
And  left-hand  crows,  from  an  old  hollow  oak,      > 
Foretold  the  coming  evil  by  their  dismal  croak.  ) 

Translation  <?/"  Horace.     Book  1.     Ode  xxii. 

The  man,  my  friend,  whose  conscious  heart 

With  virtue's  sacred  ardour  glows. 
Nor  taints  with  death  the  envenom'd  dart, 

Nor  needs  the  guard  of  Moorish  bows : 

Though  Scythia's  icy  cliffs  he  treads. 

Or  horrid  Africk's  faithless  sands  ; 
Or  where  the  fam'd  Hydaspes  spreads 

His  liquid  wealth  o'er  barbarous  lands. 

For  while  by  Chloe's  image  charm'd 

Too  far  in  Sabine's  woods  I  stray'd ; 
Me  singing,  careless  and  unarm'd, 

A  grizly  wolf  surprised,  and  fled. 

No  savage  more  portentous  stain'd 

Apulia's  spacious  wilds  with  gore ; 
No  fiercer  Juba's  thirsty  land, 

Dire  nurse  of  raging  lions,  bore. 

Place  me  where  no  soft  summer  gale 
Among  the  quivering  branches  sighs; 

Where  clouds  condens'd  for  ever  veil 
With  horrid  gloom  the  frowning  skies : 

Place  me  beneath  the  burning  line, 

A  clime  deny'd  to  human  race  ; 
I'll  sing  of  Chloe's  charms  divine. 

Her  heav'nly  voice,  and  beauteous  face. 

Translation  of  Horace.     Book  H.     Ode  ix. 

Clouds  do  not  always  veil  the  skies. 

Nor  showers  immerse  the  verdant  plain ; 

Nor  do  the  billows  always  rise. 
Or  storms  afflict  the  ruffled  n\ain. 

Nor 


Johnson  s  youthftd  compositions.  6i 


Nor,  Valgius,  on  th'  Armenian  shores 

Do  the  chain'd  waters  always  freeze ; 
Not  always  furious  Boreas  roars, 

Or  bends  with  violent  force  the  trees. 

But  you  are  ever  drown'd  in  tears, 

For  Mystes  dead  you  ever  mourn ; 
No  setting  Sol  can  ease  your  care, 

But  finds  you  sad  at  his  return. 

The  wise  experienc'd  Grecian  sage 

Mourn'd  not  Antilochus  so  long; 
Nor  did  King  Priam's  hoary  age 

So  much  lament  his  slaughter'd  son. 

Leave  off,  at  length,  these  woman's  sighs, 

Augustus'  numerous  trophies  sing; 
Repeat  that  prince's  victories, 

To  whom  all  nations  tribute  bring. 

Niphates  rolls  an  humbler  wave. 

At  length  the  undaunted  Scythian  yields, 

Content  to  live  the  Roman's  slave, 
And  scarce  forsakes  his  native  fields. 

Trayislation  of  part  of  the  Dialogue  between  Hector  and  Androm- 
ache ;  from  the  Sixth  Book  ^Homer's  Iliad. 

She  ceas'd  :  then  godlike  Hector  answer'd  kind, 

(His  various  plumage  sporting  in  the  wind) 

That  post,  and  all  the  rest,  shall  be  my  care ; 

But  shall  I,  then,  forsake  the  unfinished  war? 

How  would  the  Trojans  brand  great  Hector's  name ! 

And  one  base  action  sully  all  my  fame, 

Acquired  by  wounds  and  battles  bravely  fought ! 

Oh  !  how  my  soul  abhors  so  mean  a  thought. 

Long  since  1  learn'd  to  slight  this  fleeting  breath, 

And  view  with  cheerful  eyes  approaching  death. 

The  inexorable  sisters  have  decreed 

That  Priam's  house,  and  Priam's  self  shall  bleed  : 

The  day  will  come,  in  which  proud  Troy  shall  yield, 

And  spread  its  smoking  ruins  o'er  the  field. 

Yet  Hecuba's,  nor  Priam's  hoary  age. 

Whose  blood  shall  quench  some  Grecian's  thirsty  rage, 

Nor 


62  yohnso7is  youthful  compositions. 


Nor  my  brave  brothers,  that  have  bit  the  ground, 

Their  souls  dismiss'd  through  many  a  ghastly  wound, 

Can  in  my  bosom  half  that  grief  create. 

As  the  sad  thought  of  your  impending  fate  : 

When  some  proud  Grecian  dame  shall  tasks  impose, 

Mimick  your  tears,  and  ridicule  your  woes  ; 

Beneath  Hyperia's  waters  shall  you  sweat, 

And,  fainting,  scarce  support  the  liquid  weight : 

Then  shall  some  Argive  loud  insulting  cry, 

Behold  the  wife  of  Hector,  guard  of  Troy ! 

Tears,  at  my  name,  shall  drown  those  beauteous  eyes, 

And  that  fair  bosom  heave  with  rising  sighs  ! 

Before  that  day,  by  some  brave  hero's  hand 

May  I  lie  slain,  and  spurn  the  bloody  sand. 

To  a  Young  Ladv  on  her  Birth-day  '. 
This  tributary  verse  receive  my  fair. 
Warm  with  an  ardent  lover's  fondest  pray'r. 
May  this  returning  day  for  ever  find 
Thy  form  more  lovely,  more  adorn'd  thy  mind  ; 
All  pains,  all  cares,  may  favouring  heav'n  remove. 
All  but  the  sweet  solicitudes  of  love  ! 
May  powerful  nature  join  with  grateful  art, 
To  point  each  glance,  and  force  it  to  the  heart ! 
O  then,  when  conquered  crouds  confess  thy  sway, 
When  ev'n  proud  wealth  and  prouder  wit  obey, 
My  fair,  be  mindful  of  the  mighty  trust, 
Alas !  'tis  hard  for  beauty  to  be  just. 
Those  sovereign  charms  with  strictest  care  employ ; 
Nor  give  the  generous  pain,  the  worthless  joy : 
With  his  own  form  acquaint  the  forward  fool. 
Shewn  in  the  faithful  glass  of  ridicule ; 
Teach  mimick  censure  her  own  faults  to  find,     i 
No  more  let  coquettes  to  themselves  be  blind,   v 
So  shall  Belinda's  charms  improve  mankind.     ) 

The  Young  Authour  \ 
When  first  the  peasant,  long  inclin'd  to  roam. 
Forsakes  his  rural  sports  and  peaceful  home, 

>  Mr.  Hector  informs  me,  that  this  was  made  almost  impromptu,  in 
his  presence.     Boswell. 

'*  This  he  inserted,  with  many  alterations,  in  the  GeJitleman  s  Maga- 

Pleas'd 


yohiisons  youthful  compositions.  63 

Pleas'd  with  the  scene  the  smiling  ocean  yields, 

He  scorns  the  verdant  meads  and  flow'ry  fields  ; 

Then  dances  jocund  o'er  the  watery  way, 

While  the  breeze  whispers,  and  the  streamers  play : 

Unbounded  prospects  in  his  bosom  roll, 

And  future  millions  lift  his  rising  soul  ; 

In  blissful  dreams  he  digs  the  golden  mine, 

And  raptur'd  sees  the  new-found  ruby  shine. 

Joys  insincere !  thick  clouds  invade  the  skies. 

Loud  roar  the  billows,  high  the  waves  arise  ; 

Sick'ning  with  fear,  he  longs  to  view  the  shore, 

And  vows  to  trust  the  faithless  deep  no  more. 

So  the  young  Authour,  panting  after  fame, 

And  the  long  honours  of  a  lasting  name, 

Entrusts  his  happiness  to  human  kind, 

More  false,  more  cruel,  than  the  seas  or  wind. 

'  Toil  on,  dull  croud,  in  extacies  he  cries, 

For  wealth  or  title,  perishable  prize ; 

While  I  those  transitory  blessings  scorn, 

Secure  of  praise  from  ages  yet  unborn.' 

This  thought  once  form'd,  all  council  comes  too  late. 

He  flies  to  press,  and  hurries  on  his  fate  ; 

Swiftly  he  sees  the  imagined  laurels  spread. 

And  feels  the  unfading  wreath  surround  his  head. 

Warn'd  by  another's  fate,  vain  youth  be  wise, 

Those  dreams  were  Settle's'  once,  and  Ogilby's^: 

The  pamphlet  spreads,  incessant  hisses  rise. 

To  some  retreat  the  baffled  writer  flies  ; 

Where  no  sour  criticks  snarl,  no  sneers  molest. 

Safe  from  the  tart  lampoon,  and  stinging  jest ; 

There  begs  of  heaven  a  less  distinguished  lot, 

Glad  to  be  hid,  and  proud  to  be  forgot. 


sine,  1743  [p.  378J.     BoswELL.     The  alterations  are  not  always  for  the 
better.     Thus  he  alters 

'  And  the  long  honours  of  a  lasting  name ' 
mto 

'  And  fir'd  with  pleasing  hope  of  endless  fame.' 
'  Settle  was  the  last  of  the  city-poets  ;  post.  May  i  5,  1776. 
'  '  Here    swells    the    shelf   with    Ogilby   the    great.'      Dunciad,   j. 
141. 

Epilogue, 


64  Johnsons  youthful  compositions.      [a.d.  1728. 


Epilogue,  intended  to  have  been  spoken  by  a  Lady  jvho  was  to  per- 
sonate the  Ghost  /t/Hermione  '. 
Ye  blooming  train,  who  give  despair  or  joy, 
Bless  with  a  smile,  or  with  a  frown  destroy ; 
In  whose  fair  cheeks  destructive  Cupids  wait, 
And  with  unerring  shafts  distribute  fate  ; 
Whose  snowy  breasts,  whose  animated  eyes, 
Each  youth  admires,  though  each  admirer  dies  ; 
Whilst  you  deride  their  pangs  in  barb'rous  play,   \ 
Unpitying  see  them  weep,  and  hear  them  pray,      \ 
And  unrelenting  sport  ten  thousand  lives  away ;   ) 
For  you,  ye  fair,  I  quit  the  gloomy  plains ; 
Where  sable  night  in  all  her  horrour  reigns  ; 
No  fragrant  bovvers,  no  delightful  glades, 
Receive  the  unhappy  ghosts  of  scornful  maids. 
For  kind,  for  tender  nymphs  the  myrtle  blooms. 
And  weaves  her  bending  boughs  in  pleasing  glooms : 
Perennial  roses  deck  each  purple  vale. 
And  scents  ambrosial  breathe  in  every  gale  : 
Far  hence  are  banish'd  vapours,  spleen,  and  tears, 
Tea,  scandal,  ivory  teeth,  and  languid  airs  : 
No  pug,  nor  favourite  Cupid  there  enjoys 
The  balmy  kiss,  for  which  poor  Thyrsis  dies  ; 
Form'd  to  delight,  they  use  no  foreign  arms, 
Nor  torturing  whalebones  pinch  them  into  charms  ; 
No  conscious  blushes  there  their  cheeks  inflame, 
For  those  who  feel  no  guilt  can  know  no  shame  ; 
Unfaded  still  their  former  charms  they  shew, 
Around  them  pleasures  wait,  and  joys  for  ever  new. 
But  cruel  virgins  meet  severer  fates  ; 
Expell'd  and  exil'd  from  the  blissful  seats. 
To  dismal  realms,  and  regions  void  of  peace, 
Where  furies  ever  howl,  and  serpents  hiss. 
O'er  the  sad  plains  perpetual  tempests  sigh, 
And  pois'nous  vapours,  black'ning  all  the  sky. 
With  livid  hue  the  fairest  face  o'ercast, 

■  Some  young  ladies  at  Lichfield  having  proposed  to  act  The  Dis- 
tressed Mother^  Johnson  wrote  this,  and  gave  it  to  Mr.  Hector  to  convey 
it  privately  to  them.  Boswell.  '6tc  post,  1747,  for  The  D/stressed 
Mother. 

And 


Aetat.  19]  yohnsofi  two years  at  home.  65 

And  every  beauty  withers  at  the  blast : 

Where  e'er  they  fly  their  lovers'  ghosts  pursue, 

Inflicting  all  those  ills  which  once  they  knew ; 

Vexation,  Fury,  Jealousy,  Despair, 

Vex  ev'ry  eye,  and  every  bosom  tear ; 

Their  foul  deformities  by  all  descry'd. 

No  maid  to  flatter,  and  no  paint  to  hide. 

Then  melt,  ye  fair,  while  crouds  around  you  sigh. 

Nor  let  disdain  sit  lowring  in  your  eye  ; 

With  pity  soften  every  awful  grace, 

And  beauty  smile  auspicious  in  each  face ; 

To  ease  their  pains  exert  your  milder  power. 

So  shall  you  guiltless  reign,  and  all  mankind  adore.' 

The  two  years  which  he  spent  at  home,  after  his  return 
from  Stourbridge,  he  passed  in  what  he  thought  idleness ', 
and  was  scolded  by  his  father  for  his  want  of  steady  applica- 
tion '.  He  had  no  settled  plan  of  life,  nor  looked  forward 
at  all,  but  merely  lived  from  day  to  day.  Yet  he  read  a 
great  deal  in  a  desultory  manner,  without  any  scheme  of 
study,  as  chance  threw  books  in  his  way,  and  inclination  di- 
rected him  through  them.  He  used  to  mention  one  curious 
instance  of  his  casual  reading,  when  but  a  boy.  Having 
imagined  that  his  brother  had  hid  some  apples  behind  a 
large  folio  upon  an  upper  shelf  in  his  father's  shop,  he 
climbed  up  to  search  for  them.     There  were  no  apples  ;  but 

'  Yet  he  said  to  Boswell : — '  Sir,  in  my  early  years  I  read  very  hard. 
It  is  a  sad  reflection,  but  a  true  one,  that  I  knew  almost  as  much  at 
eighteen  as  I  do  now  '  {post,]\}i\y  21,  1763).  He  told  Mr.  Langton,  that 
'  his  great  period  of  study  was  from  the  age  of  twelve  to  that  of 
eighteen  '  (lb.  note).  He  told  the  King  that  his  reading  had  later  on 
been  hindered  by  ill-health  {post,  Feb.  1767). 

■^  Hawkins  {^Life,  p.  9)  says  that  '  his  father  took  him  home,  probably 
with  a  view  to  bring  him  up  to  his  own  trade  ;  for  I  have  heard  John- 
son say  that  he  himself  was  able  to  bind  a  book."  '  It  were  better 
bind  books  again,' wrote  Mrs.  Thrale  to  him  on  Sept.  18,  1777,  'as  you 
did  one  year  in  our  thatched  summer-house.'  Piozzi  Letters,  \.  yjz,. 
It  was  most  likely  at  this  time  that  he  refused  to  attend  his  father  to 
Uttoxeter  market,  for  which  fault  he  made  atonement  in  his  old  age 
impost,  November  1784), 

I.— 5  the 


66  His  wide  reading.  [a.d.  1728. 

the  large  folio  proved  to  be  Petrarch,  whom  he  had  seen 
mentioned  in  some  preface,  as  one  of  the  restorers  of  learn- 
ing. His  curiosity  having  been  thus  excited,  he  sat  down 
with  avidity,  and  read  a  great  part  of  the  book.  What  he 
read  during  these  two  years  he  told  me,  was  not  works  of 
mere  amusement,  'not  voyages  and  travels, but  all  literature, 
Sir,  all  ancient  writers,  all  manly  :  though  but  little  Greek, 
only  some  of  Anacreon  and  Hcsrod  ;  but  in  this  irregular 
manner  (added  he)  I  had  looked  into  a  great  man\'  books, 
which  were  not  commonly  known  at  the  Universities,  where 
they  seldom  read  any  books  but  what  are  put  into  their  hands 
by  their  tutors;  so  that  when  I  came  to  Oxford,  Dr.  Adams, 
now  master  of  Pembroke  College,  told  me  I  was  the  best  quali- 
fied for  the  University  that  he  had  ever  known  come  there'.' 
In  estimating  the  progress  of  his  mind  during  these  two 
years,  as  well  as  in  future  periods  of  his  life,  we  must  not 
regard  his  own  hasty  confession  of  idleness  ;  for  we  see, 
when  he  explains  himself,  that  he  was  acquiring  various 
stores ;  and,  indeed  he  himself  concluded  the  account  with 
saying,  '  I  would  not  have  you  think  I  was  doing  nothing 
then.'  He  might,  perhaps,  have  studied  more  assiduously; 
but  it  may  be  doubted  whether  such  a  mind  as  his  was 
not  more  enriched  by  roaming  at  large  in  the  fields  of 
literature  than  if  it  had  been  confined  to  any  single  spot. 
The  analogy  between  body  and  mind  is  very  general,  and 
the  parallel  will  hold  as  to  their  food,  as  well  as  any  other 
particular.  The  flesh  of  animals  who  feed  excursively,  is 
allowed  to  have  a  higher  flavour  than  that  of  those  who  are 
cooped  up.     May  there  not  be  the  same  difference  between 

>  Perhaps  Johnson  had  his  own  early  reading  in  mind  when  he 
thus  describes  Pope's  reading  at  about  the  same  age.  '  During  this 
period  of  his  life  he  was  indefatigably  diligent  and  insatiably  curious  ,• 
wanting  health  for  violent,  and  money  for  expensive  pleasures,  and 
having  excited  in  himself  very  strong  desires  of  intellectual  eminence, 
he  spent  much  of  his  time  over  his  books;  but  he  read  only  to  store 
his  mind  with  facts  and  images,  seizing  all  that  his  authors  presented 
with  undistinguishing  voracity,  and  with  an  appetite  for  knowledge 
too  eager  to  be  nice.'     Johnson's  Works,  viii.  239, 

men 


Aetat.  19.]  Johnson  enters  Oxford.  67 

men  who  read  as  their  taste  prompts  and  men  who  are  con- 
fined in  cells  and  colleges  to  stated  tasks? 

That  a  man  in  Mr.  Michael  Johnson's  circumstances  should 
think  of  sending  his  son  to  the  expensive  University  of  Ox- 
ford, at  his  own  charge,  seems  very  improbable.  The  sub- 
ject was  too  delicate  to  question  Johnson  upon.  But  I  have 
been  assured  by  Dr.  Taylor  that  the  scheme  never  would 
have  taken  place  had  not  a  gentleman  of  Shropshire,  one 
of  his  school-fellows,  spontaneously  undertaken  to  support 
him  at  Oxford,  in  the  character  of  his  companion  ;  though, 
in  fact,  he  never  received  any  assistance  whatever  from  that 
gentleman'. 

He,  however,  went  to  Oxford,  and  was  entered  a  Com- 
moner of  Pembroke  College  on  the  31st  of  October,  1728', 
being  then  in  his  nineteenth  year\ 

'  Andrew  Corbet,  according  to  Hawkins.  Corbet  had  entered 
Pembroke  College  in  1727.  Dr.  Swinfen,  Johnson's  godfather,  was 
a  member  of  the  College.  I  find  the  name  of  a  Swinfen  on  the 
books  in  1728. 

'  In  the  Caution  Book  of  Pembroke  College  are  found  the  two  fol- 
lowing entries : — 

'Oct.  31,  1728.  Reed,  then  of  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson  Comr.  of  Pem. 
Coll.  ye  sum  of  seven  Pounds  for  his  Caution,  which  is  to  remain  in 
ye  Hands  of  ye  Bursars  till  ye  said  Mr.  Johnson  shall  depart  ye  said 
College  leaving  ye  same  fully  discharg'd. 

'  Reed,  by  me,  John  Ratcliff,  Bursar.' 

'March  26,  1740.     At  a  convention  of  the  Master  and   Fellows  to 
settle  the  accounts  of  the  Caution  it  appear'd  that  the  Persons  Ac- 
counts under-written  stood  thus  at  their  leaving  the  College  : 
Caution  not  Repay'd 
Mr.  Johnson  ^7     o     o 
Battells  not  discharg'd 
Mr.  Johnson  £y     o    o 
Mr.  Carlyle  is  in  error  in  describing  Johnson  as  a  servitor.     He  was  a 
commoner  as  the  above  entry  shows.     Though  he  entered  on  Oct.  31, 
he  did  not  matriculate  till  Dec.  16.     It  was  on  Palm  Sunday  of  this 
same  year  that  Rousseau  left  Geneva,  and  so  entered  upon  his  event- 
ful career.     Goldsmith  was  born  eleven  days  after  Johnson  entered 
(Nov.  10, 1728).     Reynolds  was  five  years  old.     Burke  was  born  before 
lohnson  left  Oxford. 

'  He  was  in  his  twentieth  year.     He  was  born  on  Sept.  18.  1709,  and 

The 


68  His  first  tutor,  [ad. ivas. 

The  Reverend  Dr.  Adams,  who  afterwards  presided  over 
Pembroke  College  with  universal  esteem,  told  me  he  was 
present,  and  gave  me  some  account  of  what  passed  on  the 
night  of  Johnson's  arrival  at  Oxford'.  On  that  evening,  his 
father,  who  had  anxiously  accompanied  him,  found  means  to 
have  him  introduced  to  Mr.  Jorden,  who  was  to  be  his  tutor. 
His  being  put  under  any  tutor  reminds  us  of  what  Wood 
says  of  Robert  Burton,  authour  of  the  'Anatomy  of  Melan- 
choly,' when  elected  student  of  Christ  Church  :  '  for  form's 
sake,  though  he  wanted  not  a  tutor,  he  was  put  under  the 
tuition  of  Dr.  John  Bancroft,  afterwards  Bishop  of  OxonV 

His  father  seemed  very  full  of  the  merits  of  his  son,  and 
told  the  company  he  was  a  good  scholar,  and  a  poet,  and 
wrote  Latin  verses.  His  figure  and  manner  appeared  strange 
to  them  ;  but  he  behaved  modestly,  and  sat  silent,  till  upon 
something  which  occurred  in  the  course  of  conversation,  he 
suddenly  struck  in  and  quoted  Macrobius;  and  thus  he  gave 
the  first  impression  of  that  more  extensive  reading  in  which 
he  had  indulged  himself. 

His  tutor,  Mr.  Jorden,  fellow  of  Pembroke,  was  not,  it 
seems,  a  man  of  such  abilities  as  we  should  conceive  requi- 
site for  the  instructor  of  Samuel  Johnson,  who  gave  me  the 
following  account  of  him.  '  He  was  a  very  worthy  man, 
but  a  heavy  man,  and  I  did  not  profit  much  by  his  instruc- 
tions.    Indeed,  I  did  not  attend  him  much'.     The  first  day 

was  therefore  nineteen.  He  was  somewhat  late  in  entering.  In  his 
Life  of  Aschavi  he  says,  '  Ascham  took  his  bachelor's  degree  in  1534. 
in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  age ;  a  time  of  life  at  which  it  is  more 
common  now  to  enter  the  universities  than  to  take  degrees.'  John- 
son's Works,  vi.  505.  It  was  just  after  Johnson's  entrance  that  the 
two  Wesleys  began  to  hold  small  devotional  meetings  at  Oxford. 

•  Builders  were  at  work  in  the  college  during  all  his  residence. 
'July  16,  1728.  About  a  quarter  of  a  year  since  they  began  to  build  a 
new  chapel  for  Pembroke  Coll.  next  to  Slaughter  Lane.'  Hearne's 
Remains,  iii.  9. 

'  Aiken.  Oxon.  edit.  1721,  i.  627.     Boswell. 

*  'Johnson  would  oftener  risk  the  payment  of  a  small  fine  than 
attend  his  lectures  .  .  .  Upon  occasion  of  one  such  imposition  he  said 
to  Jorden: — "Sir,  you  have  sconced  [fined]  me  two  pence  for  non- 
after 


Aetat.  19.]  The  fifth  of  November.  69 

after  I  came  to  college  I  waited  upon  him,  and  then  staid 
away  four.  On  the  sixth,  Mr.  Jorden  asked  me  why  I  had 
not  attended.  I  answered  I  liad  been  sliding  in  Christ- 
Church  meadow'.  And  this  I  said  with  as  much  noncha- 
lance as  I  am  now^  talking  to  you.  I  had  no  notion  that 
I  was  wrong  or  irreverent  to  my  tutor'.  BOSWELL :  'That, 
Sir,  was  great  fortitude  of  mind.'  JOHNSON  :  *  No,  Sir  ;  stark 
insensibility*.' 

The  fifth  of  November'  was  at  that  time  kept  with  great 

attendance  at  a  lecture  not  worth  a  penny." '  Hawkins's  Johnson, 
p.  9.  A  passage  in  Whitefield's  Diary  shows  that  the  sconce  was 
often  greater.  He  once  neglected  to  give  in  the  weekly  theme  which 
every  Saturday  had  to  be  given  to  the  tutor  in  the  Hall  '  when  the 
bell  rang.'  He  was  fined  half-a-crown.  Tyerman's  IVhitcficld,  i.  22. 
In  my  time  (1855-8)  at  Pembroke  College  every  Saturday  when  the 
bell  rang  we  gave  in  our  piece  of  Latin  prose — themes  were  things  of 
the  past. 

'  This  was  on  Nov.  6,  O.  S.,  or  Nov.  17,  N.  S. — a  very  early  time  for 
ice  to  bear.  The  first  mention  of  frost  that  I  find  in  the  newspapers 
of  that  winter  is  in  the  Weekly  Journal  for  No\^  30,  O.  S. ;  where  it  is 
stated  that  'the  passage  by  land  and  water  |i.  c.  the  Thames)  is  now 
become  very  dangerous  by  the  snow,  frost,  and  ice.'  The  record  of 
meteorological  observations  began  a  few  years  later. 

*  Oxford,  20th  March,  1776.     Boswell. 

2  Mr.  Croker  discovers  a  great  difference  between  this  account  and 
that  which  Johnson  gave  to  Mr.  Warton  (/(J^/,  under  July  16,  1754). 
There  is  no  need  to  have  recourse,  with  Mr.  Croker, '  to  an  ear  spoiled 
by  flattery.'  A  very  simple  explanation  may  be  found.  The  accounts 
refer  to  dilYerent  hours  of  the  same  day.  Johnson's  'stark  insensibil- 
ity' belonged  to  the  morning,  and  his  'beating  heart'  to  the  after- 
noon. He  had  been  impertinent  before  dinner,  and  when  he  was 
sent  for  after  dinner  '  he  expected  a  sharp  rebuke.' 

*  It  ought  to  be  remembered  that  Dr.  Johnson  was  apt,  in  his  liter- 
ary as  well  as  moral  exercises,  to  overcharge  his  defects.  Dr.  Adams 
informed  me,  that  he  attended  his  tutor's  lectures,  and  also  the  lect- 
ures in  the  College  Hall,  very  regularly.     Boswell. 

*  Early  in  every  November  was  kept  'a  great  gaudy  [feast]  in  the 
college,  when  the  Master  dined  in  publick,  and  the  juniors  (by  an  an- 
cient custom  they  were  obliged  to  comply  with)  went  round  the  fire 
in  the  hall.'  Philipps's  Diary,  Notes  and  <2ucr/es,  2nd  S.,  x.  443.  We 
can  picture  to  ourselves  among  the  juniors  in  November  1728,  Samuel 

solemnity 


70  The  fifth  of  November.  [Aeut.  iw. 

solemnity  at  Pembroke  College,  and  exercises  upon  the  subr 
ject  of  the  day  were  required'.  Johnson  neglected  to  per- 
form  his,  which  is  much  to  be  regretted  ;  for  his  vivacity  of 
imagination,  and  force  of  language,  would  probably  have  pro- 
duced something  sublime  upon  the  gunpowder  plot\  To 
apologise  for  his  neglect,  he  gave  in  a  short  cop}-  of  verses, 
entitled  Sovinimn,  containing  a  common  thought  ;  '  that  the 
Muse  had  come  to  him  in  his  sleep,  aiul  whispered,  that  it 
did  not  become  him  to  write  on  such  subjects  as  politicks; 
he  should  confine  himself  to  humbler  themes :'  but  the  ver- 
sification was  truly  Virgilian\ 

Johnson,  going  round  the  fire  with  the  others.  Here  he  heard  day 
after  day  the  Latin  grace  which  Camden  had  composed  for  the  society. 
'  I  believe  I  can  repeat  it,'  Johnson  said  at  St.  Andrew's,  '  which  he 
did.'     Boswell's  IMridcs,  \\i^^.  19,  1773. 

'  Seven  years  before  Johnson's  time,  on  Nov.  5,  •  Mr.  Peyne,  Bachelor 
of  Arts,  made  an  oration  in  the  hall  suitable  to  the  day.'  Phllipps's 
Dmry. 

■  Boswell  forgot  Johnson's  criticism  on  Milton's  exercises  on  this 
day.  '  Some  of  the  exercises  on  Gunpowder  Treason  might  have 
been  spared.'     Johnson's  lVorf:s,v\\.  119. 

'  It  has  not  been  preserved.  There  are  in  the  college  library  four 
of  his  compositions,  two  of  verse  and  two  of  prose.  One  of  the  copies 
of  verse  I  give pos/,  under  July  16,  1754.  Both  have  been  often  printed. 
As  his  prose  compositions  have  never  been  published  I  will  give 
one : — 

'  Mca  nee  Falernae 
Temperant  Vites,  neque  Formiani  Pocula  Colles.' 

'  Ouaedam  minus  attente  spectata  absurda  videntur,  quae  tamen 
penitus  perspecta  rationi  sunt  consentanea.  Non  enim  semper  facta 
per  se,  verum  ratio  occasioque  faciendi  sunt  cogitanda.  Deteriora  ei 
offerre  cui  meliorum  ingens  copia  est,  cui  non  ridiculum  videtur? 
Ouis  sanus  hirtam  agrestemquc  vestem  Lucullo  obtulisset,  cujus 
omnia  fere  Serum  opificia,  omnia  Parmae  vellera,  omnes  Tyri  colores 
latuerunt  ?  Hoc  tamen  fecisse  Horatium  non  puduit,  quo  nullus 
urbanior,  nullus  procerum  convictui  magis  assuetus.  Maecenatem 
scilicet  norat  non  quaesiturum  an  meliora  vina  domi  posset  bibere, 
verum  an  inter  domesticos  quenquam  propensiori  in  se  animo  posset 
invenire.  Amorem.  non  lucrum,  optavit  patronus  ille  munifentissimus 
(sic).  Pocula  licet  vino  minus  puro  implerentur,  satis  habuit,  si  hos- 
pitis  vultus  laetitia  perfusus  sinceram  puramque  amicitiam  testaretur. 

He 


A.D.  1728.]    Johnso7is  version  of  Popes  Messiah.       7 1 

He  had  a  love  and  respect  for  Jorden,  not  for  his  litera- 
ture, but  for  his  worth.  '  Whenever  (said  he)  a  young  man 
becomes  Jorden's  pupil,  he  becomes  his  son.' 

Having  given  such  a  specimen  of  his  poetical  powers,  he 
was  asked  by  Mr.  Jorden,  to  translate  Pope's  Messiah  into 
Latin  verse,  as  a  Christmas  exercise.  He  performed  it  with 
uncommon  rapidity,  and  in  so  masterly  a  manner,  that  he 
obtained  great  applause  from  it,  which  ever  after  kept  him 
high  in  the  estimation  of  his  College,  and,  indeed,  of  all  the 
University'. 

It  is  said  that  Mr.  Pope  expressed  himself  concerning  it 
in  terms  of  strong  approbation".  Dr.  Taylor  told  me,  that 
it  was  first  printed  for  old  Mr.  Johnson,  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  his  son,  who  was  very  angry  when  he  heard  of  it. 
A  Miscellany  of  Poems  collected  by  a  person  of  the  name 
of  Husbands,  was  published  at  Oxford  in   I73I^     In  that 

Ut  ubi  poetam  carmine  celebramus,  non  fastidit,  quod  ipse  melius 
posset  scribere,  verum  poema  licet  non  magni  facit  {sic),  amorem 
scriptoris  libenter  amplectitur,  sic  amici  munuscula  animum  gratum 
testantia  licet  parvi  sint,  non  nisi  a  superbo  et  morose  contemnentur. 
Deos  thuris  fumis  indigere  nemo  certe  unquam  credidit,  quos  tamen 
lis  gratos  putarunt,  quia  homines  se  non  beneficiorum  immemores  his 
testimoniis  ostenderunt.'  Johnson. 

'  '  The  accidental  perusal  of  some  Latin  verses  gained  Addison  the 
patronage  of  Dr.  Lancaster,  afterwards  Provost  of  Queen's  College, 
by  whose  recommendation  he  was  elected  into  Magdalen  College  as 
a  Demy'  [a  scholar].  Johnson's  Works,  \\\.  \2o.  Johnson's  verses 
gained  him  nothing  but  'estimation.' 

"  He  is  reported  to  have  said  : — '  The  writer  of  this  poem  will  leav^e 
it  a  question  for  posterity,  whether  his  or  mine  be  the  original.'  Haw- 
kins, p.  13. 

^  '  A  Miscellany  of  Poems  by  several  hands.  Published  by  J.  Hus- 
bands. A.M.,  Fellow  of  Pembroke  College,  Oxon.,  Oxford.  Printed 
by  Leon.  Lichfield,  near  the  East -Gate,  In  the  year  mdccxxxi." 
Among  the  subscribers  I  notice  the  name  of  Richard  Savage,  Esq., 
for  twenty  copies.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether  he  paid  for  one.  Pope 
did  not  subscribe.  Johnson's  poem  is  thus  mentioned  in  the  pref- 
ace: — 'The  translation  of  Mr.  Pope's  Messiah  was  deliver'd  to  his 
Tutor  as  a  College  Exercise  by  Mr.  Johnson,  a  commoner  of  Pem- 
broke-College in  Oxford,  and  'tis  hoped  will  be  no  discredit  to  the 
excellent  original,' 

Miscellany 


Mr.  Covrtcnay  s  eulogy.  [a.d.  1738. 


Miscellan)'  Johnson's  Translation  of  the  Messiah  appeared, 
with  this  modest  motto  from  ScaHger's  Poeticks.  Ex  alieno 
iitgcnio  Poeta,  ex  sno  tantuvi  versificator. 

I  am  not  ignorant  that  critical  objections  have  been  made 
to  this  and  other  specimens  of  Johnson's  Latin  Poetry'.  1 
acknowledge  myself  not  competent  to  decide  on  a  question 
of  such  extreme  nicety.  But  I  am  satisfied  with  the  just 
and  discriminative  eulogy  pronounced  upon  it  by  my  friend 
Mr.  Coiutcnay. 

'  And  with  like  case  his  vivid  lines  assume 
'I'he  garb  and  dignity  of  ancient  Konie. — 
Let  college  vcrse-mcn  trite  conceits  express, 
Trick'd  out  in  splendid  shreds  of  \'irgirs  dress; 
From  playful  Ovid  cull  the  tinsel  phrase, 
And  vapid  notions  hitch  in  pilfer'd  lays  : 
Then  with  mosaick  art  the  piece  combine, 
And  boast  the  glitter  of  each  dulcet  line  : 
Johnson  adventur'd  boldly  to  transfuse 
His  vigorous  sense  into  the  Lati.in  muse  ; 
Aspir'd  to  shine  by  unreflected  light, 
And  with  a  Roman's  ardour  think  and  write. 
He  felt  the  tuneful  Nine  his  breast  inspire. 
And,  like  a  master,  wak'd  the  soothing  lyre : 
Horatian  strains  a  grateful  heart  proclaim. 
While  Sky's  wild  rocks  resound  his  'I'hralia's  name*. 
Hesperia's  plant,  in  some  less  skilful  hands. 
To  bloom  a  while,  factitious  heat  demands  : 
Though  glowing  Maro  a  faint  warmth  supplies, 
The  sickly  blossom  in  the  hot-house  dies : 
By  Johnson's  genial  culture,  art,  and  toil. 
Its  root  strikes  deep,  and  owns  the  fostVing  soil ; 
Imbibes  our  sun  through  all  its  swelling  veins. 
And  grows  a  native  of  Britannia's  plains  ^' 

The  'morbid  melancholy,'  wdiich  was  lurking  in  his  con- 
stitution, and  to  which  we  may  ascribe  those  particularities, 

1  St^  post,  under  July  i6,  1754. 
'  See  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Sept.  6.  1773. 

'  Poetical  Rii'ie^u  of  the  Literary  and  Moral  Character  of  Dr.  John- 
son,  by  John  Courtenay,  Esq.,  M.P.     Boswell. 

and 


Aetat.  19.J        yoknsons  '  morbid  melancholy!  73 

and  that  aversion  to  regular  life,  which,  at  a  very  early 
period,  marked  his  character,  gathered  such  strength  in  his 
twentieth  year,  as  to  afflict  him  in  a  dreadful  manner. 
While  he  was  at  Lichfield,  in  the  college  vacation  of  the 
year  1729',  he  felt  himself  overwhelmed  with  an  horrible 
hypochondria,  with  perpetual  irritation,  fretfulness,  and  im- 
patience ;    and  with  a  dejection,  gloom,  and  despair,  which 

'  Hector,  in  his  account  of  Johnsons  early  life,  says  :— '  After  a  long 
absence  from  Lichfield,  when  he  returned,  I  was  apprehensive  ot 
something  wrong  in  his  constitution  which  might  either  impair  his 
intellect  or  endanger  his  life ;  but,  thanks  to  Almighty  God,  my  fears 
have  proved  false.'  Hawkins,  p.  8.  The  college  books  show  that 
Johnson  was  absent  but  one  week  in  the  Long  Vacation  of  1729.  It 
is  by  no  means  unlikely  that  he  went  to  Lichfield  in  that  week  to  con- 
sult Dr.  Swinfen  about  his  health.  In  that  case  his  first  attack,  when 
he  tried  to  overcome  the  malady  by  frequently  walking  to  Birming- 
ham, must  have  been  at  an  earlier  date.  In  his  time  students  often 
passed  the  vacation  at  the  University.  The  following  table  shows  the 
number  of  graduates  and  undergraduates  in  residence  in  Pembroke 
College  at  the  end  of  each  fourth  week,  from  June  to  December 
1729:— 

Members  in  residence. 
June  20,  1729 54 

July  18.      ..        34 

Aug.  15. 25 

Sept.  12,    , 16 

Oct.  10 30 

Nov.  7,      , 52 

Dec.  5,       „        49 

At  Christmas  there  were  still  sixteen  men  left  in  the  college.  That 
under  a  zealous  tutor  the  vacation  was  by  no  means  a  time  of  idleness 
is  shown  by  a  passage  in  Wesley's  Journal,  in  which  he  compares  the 
Scotch  Universities  with  the  English.  '  In  Scotland,'  he  writes,  'the 
students  all  come  to  their  several  colleges  in  November,  and  return 
home  in  May.  So  they  may  study  five  months  in  the  year,  and  lounge 
all  the  rest !  O  where  was  the  common  sense  of  those  who  instituted 
such  colleges  ?  In  the  English  colleges  everj^one  may  reside  all  the 
year,  as  all  my  pupils  did ;  and  I  should  have  thought  myself  little 
better  than  a  highwayman  if  I  had  not  lectured  them  every  day  in  the 
year  but  Sundays.'  Wesley's  Jourjtal,  iv.  75.  Johnson  lived  to  see 
Oxford  empty  in  the  Long  Vacation.  Writing  on  Aug.  i,  1775.  he 
said: — 'The  place  is  now  a  sullen  solitude.'    Piozzi Letters,  i.  294. 

made 


74  yohnsons  '  niordid  meianc/wiy.'        (a.d.  1729. 

inade  existence  nuKer)-'.  I'loni  this  dismal  malady  he  never 
afterwards  was  perfectly  relieved  ;  and  all  his  labours,  and 
all  his  enjoyments,  were  but  temporary-  interruptions  ot  its 
baleful  influence'.  How  wonderful,  how  unsearchable  are 
the  ways  of  GoD  !  Johnson,  who  was  blest  with  all  the 
powers  of  genius  and  understanding  in  a  dej^^ree  far  above 
tile  (jrdinary  state  of  human  nature,  was  at  the  same  time 
visited  with  a  disorder  so  afflictive,  that  the)-  who  know  it 
by  dire  experience,  will  not  envy  his  exalted  endowments. 
That  it  was,  in  some  degree,  occasioned  by  a  defect  in  his 
nervous  s}stfm,  that  inexplicable  part  of  our  frame,  appears 
highly  probable.  Me  told  Mr.  Paradise'  that  he  was  some- 
times so  languid  and  inefficient,  that  he  could  not  distin- 
guish the  hour  upon  the  town-clock. 

Johnson,  upon  the  first  violent  attack  of  this  disorder, 
strove  to  overcome  it  by  forcible  exertions'.  He  frequently 
walked  to  Birmingham  and  back  again',  and  tried  many  oth- 
er expedients,  but  all  in  vain.      His  e.xpression  concerning 

'  Johnson,  perhaps,  was  thinking  of  himself  when  lie  thus  criticised 
the  character  of  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley.  '  The  varialjle  weather  of 
the  mind,  the  flying  vapours  of  incipient  madness,  which  from  time  to 
time  cloud  reason  without  eclipsing  it,  it  requires  so  much  nicety  to 
exhibit  that  Addison  seems  to  have  been  deterred  from  prosecuting 
his  own  design."     Johnson's  Works,  vi\.  ^■},\. 

'  Writing  in  his  old  age  to  Hector,  he  said. — '  My  health  has  been 
from  my  twentieth  year  such  as  has  seldom  afTorded  me  a  single  day 
of  ease'  {post,  under  March  21,  1782).  Hawkins  writes,  that  he  once 
told  him  'that  he  knew  not  what  it  was  to  be  totally  free  from  pain.' 
Hawkins,  p.  396. 

^  See  pos/,  Oct.  27,  1784,  note. 

*  In  the  Rambler,  No.  85,  he  pointed  out  'how  much  happiness  is 
gained,  and  how  much  misery  escaped,  by  frequent  and  violent  agita- 
tion of  the  body.'  See  post,  July  21.  1763,  for  his  remedies  against 
melancholy. 

*  Thirty-two  miles  in  all.  Southey  mentions  that  in  1728,  the  Wes- 
leys,  to  save  the  more  money  for  the  poor,  began  to  perform  their 
journeys  on  foot.  He  adds, — '  It  was  so  little  the  custom  in  that  age 
for  men  in  their  rank  of  life  to  walk  any  distance,  as  to  make  them 
think  it  a  discovery  that  four  or  five-and-twenty  miles  are  an  easy  and 
safe  day's  journey.'     Southey's  WcsUy,  i.  52. 

it 


Aetat.  30.]  yohnson  an  hypochondriack.  75 

it  to  me  was  *  I  did  not  then  know  how  to  manage  it.' 
His  distress  became  so  intolerable,  that  he  applied  to  Dr. 
Swinfen,  physician  in  Lichfield,  his  god-father,  and  put  into 
his  hands  a  state  of  his  case,  written  in  Latin.  Dr.  Swinfen 
was  so  much  struck  with  the  extraordinary'  acuteness,  re- 
search, and  eloquence  of  this  paper,  that  in  his  zeal  for  his 
godson  he  shewed  it  to  several  people.  His  daughter,  Mrs. 
Desmoulins,  who  was  many  years  humanely  supported  in 
Dr.  Johnson's  house  in  London,  told  me,  that  upon  his 
discovering  that  Dr.  Swinfen  had  communicated  his  case, 
he  was  so  much  offended,  that  he  was  never  afterwards 
fully  reconciled  to  him.  He  indeed  had  good  reason  to  be 
offended ;  for  though  Dr.  Swinfen's  motive  was  good,  he 
inconsiderately  betrayed  a  matter  deeply  interesting  and  of 
great  delicacy,  which  had  been  entrusted  to  him  in  confi- 
dence ;  and  exposed  a  complaint  of  his  young  friend  and 
patient,  which,  in  the  superficial  opinion  of  the  generality  of 
mankind,  is  attended  with  contempt  and  disgrace'. 

But  let  not  little  men  triumph  upon  knowing  that  John.son 
was  an  HYPOCHONDRIACK,  was  subject  to  what  the  learned, 
philosophical,  and  pious  Dr.  Cheyne  has  so  well  treated  un- 
der the  title  of  'The  English  Malady*.'  Though  he  suffered 
severely  from  it,  he  was  not  therefore  degraded.  The  powers 
of  his  great  mind  might  be  troubled,  and  their  full  exercise 
suspended  at  times  ;  but  the  mind  itself  was  ever  entire.  As 
a  proof  of  this,  it  is  only  necessary  to  consider,  that,  when  he 
was  at  the  very  worst,  he  composed  that  state  of  his  own 
case,  which  shewed  an  uncommon  vigour,  not  only  of  fancy 
and  taste,  but  of  judgement.  I  am  aware  that  he  himself 
was  too  ready  to  call  such  a  complaint  by  the  name  of 
madness^ ;   in  conformity  with  which  notion,  he  has  traced 

'  Boswell  himself  suffered  from  hypochondria.  He  seems  at  times 
to  boast  of  it,  as  Dogberry  boasted  of  his  losses ;  so  that  Johnson  had 
some  reason  for  writing  to  him  with  severity,  as  if  he  were  '  affecting 
it  from  a  desire  of  distinction.'     Post,  July  2,  1776. 

*  Johnson  on  April  7,  1776,  recommended  Boswell  to  read  this  book, 
and  again  on  July  2  of  the  same  year. 

*  On  Dec.  24,  1754,  writing  of  the  poet  Collins,  who  was  either  mad 

its 


76  yoJinscni  s  dread  of  i7isanity.  [a.d.  I72ft 

its  gradations,  with  exquisite  nicety,  in  one  of  the  chapters 
of  his  RaSSELAS".  But  there  is  surely  a  clear  distinction 
between  a  disorder  which  affects  onl)-  the  imagination  and 
spirits,  while  the  judgement  is  sound,  and  a  disorder  by 
which  the  judgement  itself  is  impaired.  This  distinction 
was  made  to  me  by  the  late  Professor  Gaubius  of  Le)den, 
physician  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  in  a  conversation  which 
1  had  with  him  several  years  ago,  and  he  expanded  it  thus : 
'If  (said  he)  a  man  tells  me  that  he  is  grievously  disturbed, 
for  that  he  imagines  he  sees  a  ruffian  coming  against  him 
with  a  drawn  sword,  though  at  the  same  time  he  is  conscious 
it  is  a  delusion,  I  pronounce  him  to  have  a  disordered  im- 
agination ;  but  if  a  man  tells  me  that  he  sees  this,  and  in 
consternation  calls  to  me  to  look  at  it,  I  pronounce  him  to 
be  mad.' 

It  is  a  common  effect  of  low  spirits  or  melancholy,  to 
make  those  who  are  afflicted  with  it  imagine  that  they  are 
actually  suffering  those  evils  which  happen  to  be  most 
strongly  presented  to  their  minds.  Some  have  fancied 
themselves  to  be  deprived  of  the  use  of  their  limbs,  some 
to  labour  under  acute  diseases,  others  to  be  in  extreme  pov- 
erty; when,  in  truth,  there  was  not  the  least  reality  in  any 
of  the  suppositions  ;  so  that  when  the  vapours  were  dis- 
pelled, they  were  convinced  of  the  delusion.  To  Johnson, 
whose  supreme  enjoyment  was  the  exercise  of  his  reason, 
the  disturbance  or  obscuration  of  that  faculty  was  the  evil 
most   to  be   dreaded.      Insanity,  therefore,  was   the  object 

or  close  upon  it.  he  said. — 'Poor  dear  Collins!  I  have  often  been 
near  his  state.'  WooH's  Warton,  p.  229.  '  I  inherited,'  Johnson  said, 
'  a  vile  melancholy  from  my  father,  which  has  made  me  mad  all  my 
life,  at  least  not  sober.'  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Sept.  16,  1773.  'When  I 
survey  my  past  life,'  he  wrote  in  1777, '  I  discover  nothing  but  a  barren 
waste  of  time,  with  some  disorders  of  body  and  disturbances  of  the 
mind  very  near  to  madness.'  Pr.  and  Med.,  p.  1 55.  Reynolds  recorded 
that  'what  Dr.  Johnson  said  a  few  days  before  his  death  of  his  dispo- 
sition to  insanity  was  no  new  discovery  to  those  who  were  intimate 
with  him.'  Taylor's  i'^^wi?/^/^,  ii.  455.  See  also />i).?/,  Sept.  20,  1777. 
'  Ch.  44. 

of 


Aetat.  20.J     Histovy  of  kis  mind  as  to  religion.  77 

of  his  most  dismal  apprehension';  and  he  fancied  himself 
seized  by  it,  or  approaching  to  it,  at  the  very  time  when 
he  was  giving  proofs  of  a  more  than  ordinary  soundness 
and  vigour  of  judgement.  That  his  own  diseased  imagina- 
tion should  have  so  far  deceived  him,  is  strange  ;  but  it  is 
stranger  still  that  some  of  his  friends  should  have  given 
credit  to  his  groundless  opinion,  when  they  had  such  un- 
doubted proofs  that  it  was  totally  fallacious ;  though  it  is 
by  no  means  surprising  that  those  who  wish  to  depreciate 
him,  should,  since  his  death,  have  laid  hold  of  this  circum- 
stance, and  insisted  upon  it  with  very  unfair  aggravation ^ 

Amidst  the  oppression  and  distraction  of  a  disease  whicli 
very  few  have  felt  in  its  full  extent,  but  many  have  experi- 
enced in  a  slighter  degree,  Johnson,  in  his  writings,  and  in 
his  conversation,  never  failed  to  display  all  the  varieties  of 
intellectual  excellence.  In  his  march  through  this  world  to 
a  better,  his  mind  still  appeared  grand  and  brilliant,  and 
impressed  all  around  him  with  the  truth  of  Virgil's  noble 
sentiment — 

^ Igneus  est  ollis  vigor  et  ccelesfis  origo^.^ 

The  history  of  his  mind  as  to  religion  is  an  important 
article.  I  have  mentioned  the  early  impressions  made  upon 
his  tender  imagination  by  his  mother,  who  continued  her 
pious  care  with  assiduity,  but,  in  his  opinion,  not  with  judge- 
ment. '  Sunday  (said  he)  was  a  heavy  day  to  me  when  I 
was  a  boy.  My  mother  confined  me  on  that  day,  and  made 
me  read  "  The  Whole  Duty  of  Man,"  from  a  great  part  of 
which  I  could  derive  no  instruction.  When,  for  instance,  I  had 
read  the  chapter  on  theft,  which  from  my  infancy  I  had  been 
taught  was  wrong,  I  was  no  more  convinced  that  theft  was 
wrong  than  before ;  so  there  was  no  accession  of  knowledge. 

'  '  Of  the  uncertainties  of  our  present  state,  the  most  dreadful  and 
alarming  is  the  uncertain  continuance  of  reason.'     Rasselas,  ch.  43. 

'  Boswell  refers  to  Mrs.  Piozzi  {Anec,  pp.  yj,  1 27),  and  Hawkins  {Lzfe, 
pp.  287-8). 

'  *  Quick  in  these  seeds  is  might  of  fire  and  birth  of  heavenly  place.* 
Morris,  A£,neids,  vi.  730. 

A  bov 


y8  Law's  Serious  Call.  (a.d.  1721^. 

A  boy  should  be  introduced  to  such  books,  by  having  his 
attention  directed  to  the  arrangement,  to  the  style,  and 
other  excellencies  of  composition ;  that  the  mind  being 
thus  engaged  by  an  amusing  variety  of  objects,  may  not 
grow  weary.' 

He  communicated  to  me  the  following  particulars  upon 
the  subject  of  his  religious  progress.  '  I  fell  into  an  inatten- 
tion to  religion,  or  an  indifference  about  it,  in  my  ninth  year. 
The  church  at  Lichfield,  in  which  we  had  a  seat,  wanted 
reparation',  so  I  was  to  go  and  find  a  seat  in  other  churches; 
and  having  bad  eyes,  and  being  awkward  about  this,  I  used 
to  go  and  read  in  the  fields  on  Sunday.  This  habit  con- 
tinued till  my  fourteenth  year;  and  still  I  find  a  great  reluc- 
tance to  go  to  church  \  I  then  became  a  sort  of  lax  talker 
against  religion,  for  I  did  not  much  think  against  it ;  and 
this  lasted  till  I  went  to  Oxford,  where  it  would  not  be 
suffered".     When  at  Oxford,  I  took  up  '  Law's  Serio2is  Call 

'  On  Easter  Sunday  17 16  during  service  some  pieces  of  stone  from 
the  spire  of  St.  Mary's  fell  on  the  roof  of  the  church.  The  congrega- 
tion, thinking  that  the  steeple  was  coming  down,  in  their  alarm  broke 
through  the  windows.  Johnson,  we  may  well  believe,  witnessed  the 
scene.  The  church  was  pulled  down,  and  the  new  one  was  opened  in 
Dec.  1 72 1.     Harwood's  Z/i:,^yft7<^/,  p. 460. 

*  'Sept.  23,  1 77 1.  I  have  gone  voluntarily  to  church  on  the  week 
day  but  few  times  in  my  life.  I  think  to  mend.  April  9,  1773.  I 
hope  in  time  to  take  pleasure  in  public  worship.  April  6,  1777.  I 
have  this  year  omitted  church  on  most  Sundays,  intending  to  supply 
the  deficience  in  the  week.  So  that  I  owe  twelve  attendances  on  wor- 
ship. I  will  make  no  more  such  superstitious  stipulations,  which  en- 
tangle the  mind  with  unbidden  obligations.'  Pr.  aJid  Med.  pp.  108, 
121,  161.  In  the  following  passage  in  the  Life  of  Miliott,  Johnson,  no 
doubt,  is  thinking  of  himself : — '  In  the  distribution  of  his  hours  there 
was  no  hour  of  prayer,  either  solitary  or  with  his  household  ;  omitting 
public  prayers  he  omitted  all.  .  .  .  That  he  lived  without  prayer  can 
hardly  be  affirmed ;  his  studies  and  meditations  were  an  habitual 
prayer.  The  neglect  of  it  in  his  family  was  probably  a  fault  for  which 
he  condemned  himself,  and  which  he  intended  to  correct,  but  that 
death,  as  too  often  happens,  intercepted  his  reformation.'  Johnson's 
Works,  vii.  1 1 5.     Stcpost,  Oct.  10,  1779- 

'  We  may  compare  with  this  a  passage  in  Verecundulus's  letter  in 

to 


Aetat.  20.]       yohusou  gj'ounded  in  religion.  79 

to  a  Holy  Lifc^^  expecting  to  find  it  a  dull  book  (as  such 
books  generally  are),  and  perhaps  to  laugh  at  it.  But  1 
found  Law  quite  an  overmatch  for  me  ;  and  this  was  the 
first  occasion  of  my  thinking  in  earnest  of  religion,  after  I 

The  Rambler,  No.  1 57  : — '  Though  many  among  my  fellow  students  [at 
the  university]  took  the  opportunity  of  a  more  remiss  discipline  to 
gratify  their  passions,  yet  virtue  preserved  her  natural  superiority, 
and  those  who  v^entured  to  neglect  were  not  suffered  to  insult  her.' 
Oxford  at  this  date  was  somewhat  wayward  in  her  love  for  religion. 
Whitefield  records : — '  1  had  no  sooner  received  the  sacrament  pub- 
licly on  a  week-day  at  St.  Mary's,  but  I  was  set  up  as  a  mark  for  all 
the  polite  students  that  knew  me  to  shoot  at.  By  this  they  knew 
that  I  was  commenced  Methodist,  for  though  there  is  a  sacrament  at 
the  beginning  of  every  term,  at  which  all,  especially  the  seniors,  are 
by  statute  obliged  to  be  present,  yet  so  dreadfully  has  that  once  faith- 
ful city  played  the  harlot,  that  very  few  masters,  and  no  undergradu- 
ates but  the  Methodists  attended  upon  it.  I  daily  underwent  some 
contempt  at  college.  Some  have  thrown  dirt  at  me ;  others  by  de- 
grees took  away  their  pay  from  me.'  Tyerman's  Whitefield,  i.  19. 
Story,  the  Quaker,  visiting  Oxford  in  1731,  says,  '  Of  all  places  wher- 
ever I  have  been  the  scholars  of  Oxford  were  the  rudest,  most  giddy, 
and  unruly  rabble,  and  most  mischievous.'     Story's  Journal,  p.  675. 

'  John  Wesley,  who  was  also  at  Oxford,  writing  of  about  this  same 
year,  says : — '  Meeting  now  with  Mr.  Law's  Christia7t  Perfection  and 
Serious  Call  the  light  flowed  in  so  mightily  upon  my  soul  that  every- 
thing appeared  in  a  new  view.'  Wesley's  Journal,  i.  94.  Whitefield 
writes  : — '  Before  I  went  to  the  University,  I  met  with  Mr.  Law's  Serious 
Call,  but  had  not  then  money  to  purchase  it.  Soon  after  my  coming 
up  to  the  University,  seeing  a  small  edition  of  it  in  a  friend's  hand  I 
soon  procured  it.  God  worked  powerfully  upon  my  soul  by  that  and 
his  other  excellent  treatise  upon  Christian  perfection.'  Tyerman's 
Whitefield,  i.  16.  Johnson  called  the  Serious  Call '  the  finest  piece  of 
hortatory  theology^  in  any  language;'  post,  1770.  A  few  months  before 
his  death  he  said : — '  William  Law  wrote  the  best  piece  of  parenetic 
divinity;  but  William  Law  was  no  reasoner ;'  post,  June  9,  1784.  Law 
was  the  tutor  of  Gibbon's  father,  and  he  died  in  the  house  of  the  his- 
torian's aunt.  In  describing  the  Serious  Call  Gibbon  says  : — '  His  pre- 
cepts are  rigid,  but  they  are  founded  on  the  gospel ;  his  satire  is  sharp, 
but  it  is  drawn  from  the  knowledge  of  human  life;  and  many  of  his 
portraits  are  not  unworthy  of  the  pen  of  La  Bruyere.  If  he  finds  a 
spark  of  piety  in  his  reader's  mind  he  will  soon  kindle  it  to  a  flame.' 
Gibbon's  Misc.  Works,  i.  21. 

became 


8o  yohnsoji  grounded  in  rcligio7i.        |a.d.  1729. 

became  capable  of  rational  inquii}'.'     I'loni  this  time  for- 
ward religion  was  the  predominant  object  of  his  thoughts' ; 

'  Mrs.  Piozzi  has  given  a  strange  fantastical  account  of  the  original 
of  Dr.  Johnson's  belief  in  our  most  holy  religion.  '  At  the  age  of  ten 
years  his  mind  was  disturbed  by  scruples  of  infidelity,  which  preyed 
upon  his  spirits,  and  made  him  very  uneasy,  the  more  so,  as  he  re- 
vealed his  uneasiness  to  none,  being  naturally  (as  he  said)  of  a  sullen 
temper,  and  reserved  disposition.  He  searched,  however,  diligently, 
but  fruitlessly,  for  evidences  of  the  truth  of  revelation  ;  and,  at  length, 
recollecting  a  book  he  had  once  seen  \I  suppose  at  five  years  olil\  in  his 
father's  shop,  intitled  Dc  veritate  Religionis,  etc.,  he  began  to  think 
himself  Iiiglily  culpable  for  neglecting  such  a  means  of  information, 
and  took  himself  severely  to  task  for  this  s/n,  adding  many  acts  of 
voluntary,  and,  to  others,  unknown  penance.  The  first  opportunity 
which  offered,  of  course,  he  seized  the  book  with  avidity ;  but,  on  ex- 
amination, not  finding  himself  scholar  enough  to  peruse  its  contents,  set 
his  heart  at  rest ;  and  not  thinking  to  enquire  whether  there  were  any 
English  books  written  on  the  subject,  followed  his  usual  amusements 
and  considered  his  conscience  as  lightened  of  a  crime.  He  redoubled  his 
diligence  to  learn  the  language  that  contained  the  information  he 
most  wished  for  ;  but  from  the  pain  which  guilt  [namely  having  omitted 
to  read  what  he  did  not  understand^  had  given  him,  he  now  began  to 
deduce  the  soul's  immortality  \a  sensation  of  pain  in  this  world  being 
an  unquestionable  proof  of  existence  in  another],  which  was  the  point 
that  belief  first  stopped  at;  and  from  that  moment  resolvitig  to  be  a 
Christian,  became  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  pious  ones  our  nation 
ever  produced.'     Anecdotes,  p.  17. 

This  is  one  of  the  numerous  misrepresentations  of  this  lively  lady, 
which  it  is  worth  while  to  correct;  for  if  credit  should  be  given  to 
such  a  childish,  irrational,  and  ridiculous  statement  of  the  foundation 
of  Dr.  Johnson's  faith  in  Christianity,  how  little  credit  would  be  due 
to  it.  Mrs.  Piozzi  seems  to  wish,  that  the  world  should  think  Dr. 
Johnson  also  under  the  influence  of  that  easy  logick,  Stet  pro  ratione 
voluntas.  BoswELL.  On  April  28,  1783,  Johnson  said:  —  'Religion 
had  dropped  out  of  my  mind.  It  was  at  an  early  part  of  my  life. 
Sickness  brought  it  back,  and  I  hope  I  have  never  lost  it  since." 
Most  likely  it  was  the  sickness  in  the  long  vacation  of  1729  men- 
tioned ante,  p.  73. 

^  In  his  Life  of  Milton,  writing  of  Paradise  Lost,  he  says : — '  But 
these  truths  are  too  important  to  be  new;  they  have  been  taught  to 
our  infancy;  they  have  mingled  with  our  solitary  thoughts  and  famil- 
iar conversations,  and  are  habitually  interwoven  with  the  whole  text- 
ure of  life.'    Johnson's  Works,  \\\.  134, 

thuu^'h 


Aetat. 20]  yohnsons  studies  at  Oxford.  8i 

though,  with  the  just  sentiments  of  a  conscientious  Christian, 
he  lamented  that  his  practice  of  its  duties  fell  far  short  of 
what  it  ought  to  be. 

This  instance  of  a  mind  such  as  that  of  Johnson  being 
first  disposed,  by  an  unexpected  incident,  to  think  with 
anxiety  of  the  momentous  concerns  of  eternity,  and  of '  what 
he  should  do  to  be  saved ','  may  for  ever  be  produced  in  op- 
position to  the  superficial  and  sometimes  profane  contempt 
that  has  been  thrown  upon  those  occasional  impressions 
which  it  is  certain  many  Christians  have  experienced  ; 
though  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  weak  minds,  from  an 
erroneous  supposition  that  no  man  is  in  a  state  of  grace  who 
has  not  felt  a  particular  conversion,  have,  in  some  cases, 
brought  a  degree  of  ridicule  upon  them  ;  a  ridicule  of  which 
it  is  inconsiderate  or  unfair  to  make  a  general  application. 

How  seriously  Johnson  was  impressed  with  a  sense  of  re- 
ligion, even  in  the  vigour  of  his  youth,  appears  from  the 
following  passage  in  his  minutes  kept  by  way  of  diary : 
Sept.  7",  1736.  I  have  this  day  entered  upon  my  twenty- 
eighth  year.  '  Mayest  thou,  O  God,  enable  me,  for  jESUS 
Christ's  sake,  to  spend  this  in  such  a  manner  that  I  may 
receive  comfort  from  it  at  the  hour  of  death,  and  in  the  day 
of  judgement !     Amen.' 

The  particular  course  of  his  reading  while  at  Oxford,  and 
during  the  time  of  vacation  which  he  passed  at  home,  cannot 
be  traced.  Enough  has  been  said  of  his  irregular  mode  of 
study.  He  told  me  that  from  his  earliest  years  he  loved  to 
read  poetry,  but  hardly  ever  read  any  poem  to  an  end  ;  that 
he  read  Shakspeare  at  a  period  so  early,  that  the  speech  of 
the  ghost  in  Hamlet  terrified  him  when  he  was  alone ' ;  that 
Horace's  Odes  were  the  compositions  in  which  he  took  most 

'  Acts  xvi.  30. 

*  Sept.  7,  Old  Style,  or  Sept.  18,  New  Style. 

•  '  He  that  peruses  Shakespeare  looks  round  alarmed,  and  starts  to 
find  himself  alone.'  Johnson's  Works,  v.  71.  'I  was  many  years  ago 
so  shocked  by  Cordelia's  death,  that  I  know  not  whether  I  ever  en- 
dured to  read  again  the  last  scenes  of  the  play  till  I  undertook  to 
revise  them  as  an  editor.'     lb,  p.  175. 

I.— 6  delight 


82  His  knowledge  of  books.  [a.d.  1729. 

delight,  and  it  was  long  before  he  liked  his  Epistles  and 
Satires.  He  told  me  what  he  read  solidly  at  O.xford  was 
Greek;  not  the  Grecian  historians,  but  Homer'  and  Eurip- 
ides, and  now  and  then  a  little  Epigram  ;  that  the  study  of 
which  he  was  the  most  fond  was  Metaphysicks,  but  he  had 
not  read  much,  even  in  that  way.  I  always  thought  that 
he  did  himself  injustice  in  his  account  of  what  he  had  read, 
and  that  he  must  have  been  speaking  with  reference  to  the 
vast  portion  of  study  which  is  possible,  and  to  which  a  few 
scholars  in  the  whole  history  of  literature  have  attained  ;  for 
when  I  once  asked  him  whether  a  person,  whose  name  I 
have  now  forgotten,  studied  hard,  he  answered  '  No,  Sir  ;  I  do 
not  believe  he  studied  hard.  I  never  knew  a  man  who  studied 
hard.  I  conclude,  indeed,  from  the  effects,  that  some  men 
have  studied  hard,  as  Bentley  and  Clarke.'  Trying  him  by 
that  criterion  upon  which  he  formed  his  judgement  of  others, 
we  may  be  absolutely  certain,  both  from  his  ^^•ritings  and 
his  conversation,  that  his  reading  was  very  extensive.  Dr. 
Adam  Smith,  than  whom  few  were  better  judges  on  this 
subject,  once  observed  to  me  that  '  Johnson  knew  more 
books  than  any  man  alive.'  He  had  a  peculiar  facility  in 
seizing  at  once  what  was  valuable  in  any  book,  without  sub- 
mitting to  the  labour  of  perusing  it  from  beginning  to  end '. 

'  He  told  Mr.  Windham  that  he  had  never  read  through  the  Odyssey 
completely.  Windham's  Diary,  p.  17.  At  college,  he  said,  he  had 
been  'very  idle  and  neglectful  of  his  studies.'     lb. 

'  '  It  may  be  questioned  whether,  except  his  Bible,  he  ever  read  a 
book  entirely  through.  Late  in  life,  if  any  man  praised  a  book  in  his 
presence,  he  was  sure  to  ask,  "  Did  you  read  it  through  ?"  If  the  an- 
swer was  in  the  affirmative,  he  did  not  seem  willing  to  believe  it.' 
Murphy's  Johnsott,  p.  12.  It  would  be  easy  to  show  that  Johnson  read 
many  books  right  through,  though,  according  to  Mrs.  Piozzi,  he  asked, 
'was  there  ever  yet  anything  written  by  mere  man  that  was  wished 
longer  by  its  readers  excepting  Don  Quixote,  Robinson  Crusoe,  and 
the  Pilgrim's  Progress?'  Piozzi's  ^«^f.  p. 281.  Nevertheless  in  Mur- 
phy's statement  there  is  some  truth.  See  what  has  been  just  stated 
by  Boswell,  that  '  he  hardly  ever  read  any  poem  to  an  end,'  and  post, 
April  19,  1773,  and  June  15,  1784.  To  him  might  be  applied  his  own 
description  of  Barretier: — 'He  had  a  quickness  of  apprehension  and 

He 


Aetat.30.]  His  rapid  reading  and  composition.  83 

He  had,  from  the  irritability  of  his  constitution,  at  all  times, 
an  impatience  and  hurry  when  he  either  read  or  wrote.  A 
certain  apprehension,  arising  from  novelty,  made  him  write 
his  first  exercise  at  College  twice  over ' ;  but  he  never  took 
that  trouble  with  any  other  composition  ;  and  we  shall  see 
that  his  most  excellent  works  were  struck  off  at  a  heat,  with 
rapid  exertion '". 

Yet  he  appears,  from  his  early  notes  or  memorandums  in 
my  possession,  to  have  at  various  times  attempted,  or  at  least 
planned,  a  methodical  course  of  study,  according  to  com- 
putation, of  which  he  was  all  his  life  fond,  as  it  fixed  his 

firmness  of  memory  which  enabled  him  to  read  with  incredible  rapid- 
ity, and  at  the  same  time  to  retain  what  he  read,  so  as  to  be  able  to 
recollect  and  apply  it.  He  turned  over  volumes  in  an  in.stant,  and 
selected  what  was  useful  for  his  purpose.'     Johnson's  Works,  vi.  390. 

1  See  />osf,  June  15,  1784.  Mr.  Windham  {Diary,  p.  17)  records  the 
following  '  anecdote  of  Johnson's  first  declamation  at  college  ;  having 
neglected  to  write  it  till  the  morning  of  his  being  {sic)  to  repeat  it, 
and  having  only  one  copy,  he  got  part  of  it  by  heart  while  he  was 
walking  into  the  hall,  and  the  rest  he  supplied  as  well  as  he  could  ex- 
tempore.' Mrs.  Piozzi,  recording  the  same  anecdote,  says  that  'hav- 
ing given  the  copy  into  the  hand  of  the  tutor  who  stood  to  receive  it 
as  he  passed,  he  was  obliged  to  begin  by  chance,  and  continue  on  how 
he  could.  ..."  A  prodigious  risk,  however,"  said  some  one.  "  Not  at 
all,"  exclaims  Johnson,  "  no  man,  I  suppose,  leaps  at  once  into  deep 
water  who  does  not  know  how  to  swim."  '     Piozzi's  Anec.  p.  30. 

'■*  He  told  Dr.  Burney  that  he  never  wrote  any  of  his  works  that  were 
printed,  twice  over.  Dr.  Burney 's  wonder  at  seeing  several  pages  of 
his  Lives  of  the  Poets,  in  Manuscript,  with  scarce  a  blot  or  erasure, 
drew  this  observation  from  him.  Malone.  '  He  wrote  forty-eight 
of  the  printed  octavo  pages  of  the  Life  of  Savage  at  a  sitting  {post, 
Feb.  1744),  and  a  hundred  lines  of  the  Vanity  of  Hmnaji  IVis/ies 
in  a  day  {post,  under  Feb.  15,  1766).  The  Ranibiers  were  written  in 
haste  as  the  moment  pressed,  without  even  being  read  over  by  him 
before  they  were  printed'  {post,  beginning  of  1750).  In  the  second 
edition,  however,  he  made  corrections.  '  He  composed  Rasselas  in 
the  evenings  of  one  week'  {post,  under  January  1759).  '  T/ie  False 
Alarm  was  written  between  eight  o'clock  on  Wednesday  night  and 
twelve  o'clock  on  Thursday  night.'  Piozzi's  A?!ec.  p.  41.  '  T/ie  Pa- 
triot,' he  says,  'was  called  for  on  Friday,  was  written  on  Saturday' 
{post,  Nov.  26,  1774). 

attention 


84  yohnsorCs  rooms  in  College.         [a.d.  1729. 

attention  steadily  upon  something  without,  and  prevented 
his  mind  from  preying  upon  itself '.  Thus  I  find  in  his 
handwriting  the  number  of  lines  in  each  of  two  of  Euripides' 
Tragedies,  of  the  Georgicks  of  Virgil,  of  the  first  six  books 
of  the  ^neid,  of  Horace's  Art  of  Poetr)%  of  three  of  the 
books  of  Ovid's  Metamorphosis,  of  some  parts  of  Theocritus, 
and  of  the  tenth  Satire  of  Juvenal;  and  a  table,  shewing  at 
the  rate  of  various  numbers  a  day  (I  suppose  verses  to  be 
read),  what  would  be,  in  each  case,  the  total  amount  in  a 
week,  month,  and  year  *. 

No  man  had  a  more  ardent  love  of  literature,  or  a  higher 
respect  for  it  than  Johnson.  Mis  apartment  in  Pembroke 
College  was  that  upon  the  second  floor,  over  the  gateway. 
The  enthusiasts  of  learning  will  ever  contemplate  it  with 
veneration.  One  day,  while  he  was  sitting  in  it  quite  alone, 
Dr.  Panting  \  then  master  of  the  College,  whom  he  called  '  a 
fine  Jacobite  fellow,'  overheard'  him  uttering  this  soliloquy 
in  his  strong,  emphatick  voice  :  '  Well,  I  have  a  mind  to  see 
what  is  done  in  other  places  of  learning.     I'll  go  and  visit 

*  'When  Mr.  Johnson  felt  his  fancy,  or  fancied  he  felt  it.  disordered, 
his  constant  recurrence  was  to  the  study  of  arithmetic'  Piozzi's  Anec. 
p. "]"].  '  Ethics,  or  figures,  or  metaphysical  reasoninjj,  was  the  sort  of 
talk  he  most  delighted  in  ;'  ib.  p.  80.     See  />osf,  Sept.  34,  1777. 

*  'Sept.  18,  1764,  I  resolve  to  study  the  Scriptures;  I  hope  in  the 
original  languages.  640  verses  every  Sunday  will  nearly  comprise  the 
Scriptures  in  a  year.*  Pr.  and  Med.  p.  58.  '  1770,  ist  Sunday  after 
Easter.  The  plan  which  I  formed  for  reading  the  Scriptures  was  to 
read  600  verses  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  200  in  the  New.  twcry 
week  ;'  ib.  p.  100. 

''August  I,  1715.  This  being  the  day  on  which  the  late  Queen 
Anne  died,  and  on  which  George,  Duke  and  Elector  of  Brunswick, 
usurped  the  English  throne,  there  was  very  little  rejoicing  in  Oxford. 
.  .  .  There  was  a  sermon  at  St.  Marie's  by  Dr.  Panting,  Master  of 
Pembroke;  .  .  .  He  is  an  honest  gent.  His  sermon  took  no  notice, 
at  most  very  little,  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick."  Hearne^s  Remains, 
ii.  6. 

*  The  outside  wall  of  the  gateway-tower  forms  an  angle  with  the 
wall  of  the  Master's  house,  so  that  anyone  sitting  by  the  open  window 
and  speaking  in  a  strong  emphatic  voice  might  have  easily  been  over- 
heard. 

the 


Aetat.20.]         yohnson  a  frolic k some  fellow.  85 

the  Universities  abroad.  I'll  go  to  France  and  Italy.  I'll 
go  to  Padua*. — And  I'll  mind  my  business.  For  an  Athenian 
blockhead  is  the  worst  of  all  blockheads  \' 

Dr.  Adams  told  me  that  Johnson,  while  he  was  at  Pem- 
broke College,  '  was  caressed  and  loved  by  all  about  him, 
\\  as  a  gay  and  frolicksome  ^  fellow,  and  passed  there  the 
happiest  part  of  his  life.'  But  this  is  a  striking  proof  of  the 
fallacy  of  appearances,  and  how  little  any  of  us  know  of  the 
real  internal  state  even  of  those  whom  we  see  most  frequent- 
ly ;  for  the  truth  is,  that  he  was  then  depressed  by  poverty, 
and  irritated  by  disease.     When  I  mentioned  to  him  this 

'  Goldsmith  did  go  to  Padua,  and  stayed  there  some  months. 
Forster's  Goldsmith,  i.  71. 

'  I  had  this  anecdote  from  Dr.  Adams,  and  Dr.  Johnson  confirmed 
it.     Bramston,  in  his  Alan  of  Taste,  has  the  same  thought : 

'  Sure,  of  all  blockheads,  scholars  are  the  worst.'  Boswell. 
Johnson's  meaning,  however,  is,  that  a  scholar  who  is  a  blockhead 
must  be  the  worst  of  all  blockheads,  because  he  is  without  excuse. 
But  Bramston,  in  the  assumed  character  of  an  ignorant  coxcomb, 
maintains  that  all  scholars  are  blockheads  on  account  of  their  schol- 
arship. J.  BosAVELL,  JUN.  There  is,  I  believe,  a  Spanish  proverb  to 
the  efTect  that, '  to  be  an  utter  fool  a  man  must  know  Latin.'  A  writer 
in  Notes  and  Queries  (  5th  S.  xii.  285 )  suggests  that  Johnson  had  in 
mind  Acts  xvii.  21. 

'  '  It  was  the  practice  in  his  time  for  a  servitor,  by  order  of  the 
Master,  to  go  round  to  the  rooms  of  the  young  men,  and  knocking  at 
the  door  to  enquire  if  they  were  within  ;  and  if  no  answer  was  returned 
to  report  them  absent.  Johnson  could  not  endure  this  intrusion,  and 
would  frequently  be  silent,  when  the  utterance  of  a  word  would  have 
ensured  him  from  censure,  and  would  join  with  others  of  the  young 
men  in  the  college  in  hunting,  as  they  called  it,  the  servitor  who  was 
thus  diligent  in  his  duty,  and  this  they  did  with  the  noise  of  pots  and 
candlesticks,  singing  to  the  tune  of  Chevy  Chase  the  words  in  the  old 
ballad,— 

"To  drive  the  deer  with  hound  and  horn!"'  Hawkins, -p.  \2. 
Whitefield,  writing  of  a  few  years  later,  says : — '  At  this  time  Satan 
used  to  terrify  me  much,  and  threatened  to  punish  me  if  I  discovered 
his  wiles.  It  being  my  duty,  as  servitor,  in  my  turn  to  knock  at  the 
gentlemen's  rooms  by  ten  at  night,  to  see  who  were  in  their  rooms,  I 
thought  the  devil  would  appear  to  me  every  stair  I  went  up.'  Tyer- 
man's  Whitefield,  i.  20. 

account 


86  Dr.  Adams.  [a.d.  1730. 

account  as  given  me  by  Dr.  Adams,  he  said,  '  Ah,  Sir,  I  was 
mad  and  violent.  It  was  bitterness  which  they  mistook 
for  frolick'.  I  was  miserably  poor,  and  I  thought  to  fight 
my  way  by  my  literature  and  my  wit ;  so  I  disregarded  all 
power  and  all  authority'.' 

The  Bishop  of  Dromore  observes  in  a  letter  to  me, 

'The  pleasure  he  took  in  vexing  the  tutors  and  fellows  has  been 
often  mentioned.  Jiut  I  have  heard  him  say,  what  ought  to  be 
recorded  to  the  honour  of  the  present  venerable  master  of  that 
College,  the  Reverend  William  Adams,  D.D.,  who  was  then  very 
young,  and  one  of  the  junior  fellows  ;  that  the  mild  but  judicious 
expostulations  of  this  worthy  man,  whose  virtue  awed  him,  and 
whose  learning  he  revered,  made  him  really  ashamed  of  himself, 
"though  I  fear  (said  he)  I  was  too  proud  to  own  it." 

'  I  have  heard  from  some  of  his  cotemporaries  that  he  was  gen- 
erally seen  lounging  at  the  College  gate,  with  a  circle  of  young 
students  round  him,  whom  he  was  entertaining  with  wit,  and  keep- 
ing from  their  studies,  if  not  spiriting  them  up  to  rebellion  against 
the  College  discipline,  which  in  his  maturer  years  he  so  much  ex- 
tolled.' 

He  very  early  began  to  attempt  keeping  notes  or  memo- 
randums, by  way  of  a  diary  of  his  life.  I  find,  in  a  parcel  of 
loose  leaves,  the  following  spirited  resolution  to  contend 
against  his  natural  indolence : 

'  Oct.  1729.  DesidicB  valedixi ;  syrenis  is  tins  ca?itibus  surdam  post- 
hac  aurem  obversiirus. — I  bid  farewell  to  Sloth,  being  resolved 
henceforth  not  to  listen  to  her  syren  strains.' 

I  have  also  in  my  possession  a  few  leaves  of  another  Libel/us, 
or  little  book,  entitled  AnnalES,  in  which  some  of  the  early 
particulars  of  his  history  are  registered  in  Latm. 

I  do  not  find  that  he  formed  any  close  intimacies  with 

'  Se.e post,] una  12,  1784. 

'  Perhaps  his  disregard  of  all  authority  was  in  part  due  to  his  genius. 
still  in  its  youth.  In  his  Life  of  Lyttelton  he  says  :— '  The  letters  [Lyt- 
telton's  Persian  Letters']  have  something  of  that  indistinct  and  head- 
strong ardour  for  liberty  which  a  man  of  genius  always  catches  when 
he  enters  the  world,  and  always  suffers  to  cool  as  he  passes  forward.' 
Johnson's  Works,  viii.  488. 

his 


Aetat.2i.j    His  regard  for  Pembroke  College.  8y 

his  fellow-collegians.  But  Dr.  Adams  told  me  that  he  con- 
tracted a  love  and  regard  for  Pembroke  College,  which  he 
retained  to  the  last.  A  short  time  before  his  death  he  sent 
to  that  College  a  present  of  all  his  works,  to  be  deposited 
in  their  library';  and  he  had  thoughts  of  leaving  to  it  his 
house  at  Lichfield  ;  but  his  friends  who  were  about  him 
very  properly  dissuaded  him  from  it,  and  he  bequeathed  it 
to  some  poor  relations'.  He  took  a  pleasure  in  boasting  of 
the  many  eminent  men  who  had  been  educated  at  Pem- 
broke. In  this  list  are  found  the  names  of  Mr.  Hawkins  the 
Poetry  Professor  \  Mr.  Shenstone,  Sir  William  Blackstone, 
and  others*;  not  forgetting  the  celebrated  popular  preacher, 

*  Dr.  Hall  [formerly  Master  of  the  College]  says,  'Certainly  not  all.' 
Croker. 

'  '  I  would  leave  the  interest  of  the  fortune  I  bequeathed  to  a  col- 
lege to  my  relations  or  my  friends  for  their  lives.  It  is  the  same  thing 
to  a  college,  which  is  a  permanent  society,  whether  it  gets  the  money 
now  or  twenty  years  hence ;  and  I  would  wish  to  make  my  relations 
or  friends  feel  the  benefit  of  it;'  pos/,  April  17,  1778.  Hawkins  (Life. 
p.  582,)  says  that  '  he  meditated  a  devise  of  his  house  to  the  corpora- 
tion of  that  city  for  a  charitable  use,  but,  it  being  freehold  he  said.  "  I 
cannot  live  a  twelvemonth,  and  the  last  statute  of  Mortmain  stands 
in  my  way."  '  The  same  statute,  no  doubt,  would  have  hindered  the 
bequest  to  the  College. 

'  Garrick  refused  to  act  one  of  Hawkins's  plays.  The  poet  towards 
the  end  of  a  long  letter  which  he  signed, — '  Your  much  dissatisfied 
humble  servant,' said  : — 'After  all,  Sir,  I  do  not  desire  to  come  to  an 
open  rupture  with  you.  1  wish  not  to  exasperate,  but  to  convince ; 
and  I  tender  you  once  more  my  friendship  and  my  play.'  Garrick 
Corres.  ii.  8.     See  post,  April  9,  1778. 

*  See  Nash's  History  of  Worcestershire,  vol.  i.  p.  529.  Boswell. 
To  the  list  should  be  added,  Francis  Beaumont,  the  dramatic  writer; 
Sir  Thomas  Browne,  whose  life  Johnson  wrote  ;  Sir  James  Dyer,  Chief 
Justice  of  the  King's  Bench,  Lord  Chancellor  Harcourt,  John  Pym, 
Francis  Rous,  the  Speaker  of  Cromwell's  parliament,  and  Bishop 
Bonner.  Wright.  Some  of  these  men  belonged  to  the  ancient 
foundation  of  Broadgates  Hall,  which  in  1624  was  converted  into 
Pembroke  College.  It  is  strange  that  Boswell  should  have  passed 
over  Sir  Thomas  Browne's  name.  Johnson  in  his  life  of  Browne  says 
that  he  was  'the  first  man  of  eminence  graduated  from  the  new  col- 
lege, to  which  the  zeal  or  gratitude  of  those  that  love  it  most  can 

Mr. 


S8  A  nest  of  singing-birds.  [a.d.  1730. 

Mr.  George  Whitcfield,  of  whom,  though  Dr.  Johnson  did 
not  think  very  highly',  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  his 
eloquence  was  powerful,  his  views  pious  and  charitable,  his 
assiduity  almost  incredible  ;  and,  that  since  his  death,  the 
integrity  of  his  character  has  been  fully  vindicated.  Being 
himself  a  poet,  Johnson  was  peculiarly  happy  in  mentioning 
how  many  of  the  sons  of  Pembroke  were  poets ;  adding, 
with  a  smile  of  sportive  triumph,  '  Sir,  we  are  a  nest  of  sing- 
ing birds  \' 

wish  little  better  than  that  it  may  long  proceed  as  it  began.'  |ohn- 
son's  Works,  vi.  476.  To  this  list  Nash  adds  the  name  of  the  Rcvd. 
Richard  Graves,  author  of  The  Spiritual  (2uixotc,  who  took  his  degree 
of  B.A.  on  the  same  day  as  Whitefield,  whom  he  ridiculed  in  that 
romance. 

'  See^(?j/.  Oct.  6,  1769,  and  Bosweirs  Hebrides,  Aug.  15.  1773. 

•  In  his  Life  of  Shenstone  he  writes : — '  From  school  Shenstone  was 
sent  to  Pembroke  College  in  Oxford,  a  society  which  for  half  a  cen- 
tury has  been  eminent  for  English  poetry  and  elegant  literature.  Here 
it  appears  that  he  found  delight  and  advantage  ;  for  he  continued  his 
name  in  the  book  ten  years,  though  he  took  no  degree.'  Johnson's 
Works,  viii.  408.  Johnson's  name  would  seem  to  have  been  in  like 
manner  continued  for  more  than  eleven  years,  and  perhaps  for  the 
same  reasons.  {Ante,  p.  67  note.)  Hannah  More  was  at  Oxford  in 
June  1782,  during  one  of  Johnson's  visits  to  Dr.  Adams.  '  You  cannot 
imagine,' she  writes,  'with  what  delight  Dr.  Johnson  showed  me  every 
part  of  his  own  college.  .  .  .  After  dinner  he  begged  to  conduct  me  to 
see  the  college ;  he  would  let  no  one  show  it  me  but  him.self.  "  This 
was  my  room ;  this  Shenstone's."  Then,  after  pointing  out  all  the 
rooms  of  the  poets  who  had  been  of  his  college,  "  In  short,"  said  he, 
"we  were  a  nest  of  singing-birds.  Here  we  walked,  there  we  played 
at  cricket."  [It  may  be  doubted  whether  he  ever  played.]  He  ran 
over  with  pleasure  the  history  of  the  juvenile  days  he  passed  there. 
When  we  came  into  the  Common  Room,  we  spied  a  fine  large  print 
of  Johnson,  framed  and  hung  up  that  very  morning,  with  this  motto  : 
"  And  is  not  Johnson  ours,  himself  a  host ;"  under  which  stared  you 
in  the  face.  "  From  Miss  More's  Sensibility."  '  Hannah  More's  Afe- 
moirs,  i.  261.  At  the  end  of  'the  ludicrous  analysis  of  Pocockius ' 
quoted  by  Johnson  in  the  Lz/e  of  Edmund  Smith  are  the  following 
lines  : — '  Subito  ad  Batavos  proficiscor,  lauro  ab  illis  donandus.  Prius 
vcro  Pembrochienses  voco  ad  certamen  poeticum.'  Smith  was  at 
Christ  Church.  He  seems  to  be  mocking  the  neighbouring  '  nest  of 
singing-birds.'     Johnson's  Works,  \'\\.  i?>\. 

He 


Aetat.  21.J        Dr.  Taylor  at  Christ  Cfnirch.  89 

He  was  not,  however,  blind  to  what  he  thought  the  defects 
of  his  own  College ;  and  I  have,  from  the  information  of  Dr. 
Taylor,  a  very  strong  instance  of  that  rigid  honesty  which 
he  ever  inflexibly  preserved.  Taylor  had  obtained  his  fa- 
ther's consent  to  be  entered  of  Pembroke,  that  he  might 
be  with  his  school-fellow  Johnson,  with  whom,  though  some 
years  older  than  himself,  he  was  very  intimate.  This  would 
have  been  a  great  comfort  to  Johnson.  But  he  fairly  told 
Taylor  that  he  could  not,  in  conscience,  suffer  him  to  enter 
where  he  knew  he  could  not  have  an  able  tutor.  He  then 
made  inquiry  all  round  the  University,  and  having  found 
that  Mr.  Bateman,  of  Christ  Church,  was  the  tutor  of  highest 
reputation,  Taylor  was  entered  of  that  College '.  Mr,  Bate- 
man's  lectures  were  so  excellent,  that  Johnson  used  to  come 
and  get  them  at  second-hand  from  Taylor,  till  his  poverty 
being  so  extreme  that  his  shoes  were  worn  out,  and  his  feet 
appeared  through  them,  he  saAv  that  this  humiliating  cir- 
cumstance was  perceived  by  the  Christ  Church  men,  and  he 
came  no  more'.  He  was  too  proud  to  accept  of  money, 
and  somebody  having  set  a  pair  of  new  shoes  at  his  door, 
he  threw  them  away  with  indignation '.  How  must  we  feel 
when  we  read  such  an  anecdote  of  Samuel  Johnson ! 

'  Taylor  matriculated  on  Feb.  24,  1729.  Mr.  Croker  in  his  note  has 
confounded  him  with  another  John  Taylor  who  matriculated  more 
than  a  year  later.  Richard  West,  writing  of  Christ  Church  in  1735, 
says  : — '  Consider  me  very  seriously  here  in  a  strange  country,  inhab- 
ited by  things  that  call  themselves  Doctors  and  Masters  of  Arts ;  a 
country  flowing  with  syllogisms  and  ale,  where  Horace  and  Virgil  are 
equally  unknown.'     Gray's  Letters,  ii.  i. 

*  '  Si  toga  sordidula  est  et  rupta  calceus  alter 

Pelle  patet.' 
'Or  if  the  shoe  be  ript.  or  patches  put.'     Dryden,  Juvenal,  iii.  149. 
Johnson  in  his  London,  in  describing  'the  blockhead's  insults,' while 
he  mentions  '  the  tattered  cloak,'  passes  over  the  ript  shoe.     Perhaps 
the  wound  had  gone  too  deep  to  his  generous  heart  for  him  to  bear 
even  to  think  on  it. 

*  '  Yet  some  have  refused  my  bounties,  more  offended  with  my 
quickness  to  detect  their  wants  than  pleased  with  my  readiness  to 
succour  them.'  Rasselas.ch.  25.  'His  [Savage'.s]  distresses,  however 
afflictive,  never  dejected  him ;  in  his  lowest  state  he  wanted  not  spirit 

His 


90  Johnson  s  worn-out  Shoes.  [a.d.  1730. 

His  spirited  refusal  of  an  eleemosynary  supply  of  shoes, 
arose,  no  doubt,  from  a  proper  pride.  But,  considering  his 
ascetick  disposition  at  times,  as  acknowledged  by  himself 
in  his  '  Meditations,'  and  the  exaggeration  with  which  some 
have  treated  the  peculiarities  of  his  character,  I  should  not 
wonder  to  hear  it  ascribed  to  a  principle  of  superstitious 
mortification  ;  as  we  are  told  by  Tursellinus,  in  his  Life  of 
St.  Ignatius  Loyola,  that  this  intrepid  founder  of  the  order 
of  Jesuits,  when  he  arrived  at  Goa,  after  having  made  a 
severe  pilgrimage  through  the  Eastern  desarts  persisted  in 
wearing  his  miserable  shattered  shoes,  and  when  new  ones 
were  offered  him  rejected  them  as  an  unsuitable  indulgence. 

The  res  august  a  domV  prevented  him  from  having  the 
advantage  of  a  complete  academical  education  '\  The  friend 
to  whom  he  had  trusted  for  support  had  deceived  him.  His 
debts  in  College,  though  not  great,  were  increasing' ;  and  his 
scanty  remittances  from  Lichfield,  which  had  all  along  been 
made  with  great  difficulty,  could  be  supplied  no  longer,  his 
father  having  fallen  into  a  state  of  insolvency.     Compelled, 

to  assert  the  natural  dignity  of  wit,  and  was  always  ready  to  repress 
that  insolence  which  the  superiority  of  fortune  incited  ;  ...  he  never 
admitted  any  gross  familiarities,  or  submitted  to  be  treated  otherwise 
than  as  an  equal.  .  .  .  His  clothes  were  worn  out ;  and  he  received 
notice  that  at  a  coffee-house  some  clothes  and  linen  were  left  for  him. 
But  though  the  offer  was  so  far  generous,  it  was  made  with  some  neg- 
lect of  ceremonies,  which  Mr.  Savage  so  much  resented  that  he  refused 
the  present,  and  declined  to  enter  the  house  till  the  clothes  that  had 
been  designed  for  him  were  taken  away.'  Johnson's  Works,  x\\\.  i6i 
and  169. 

'  '  Haud  facile  emergunt  quorum  virtutibus  obstat 

Res  angusta  domi.'  Juvenal,  Sat.  iii.  164. 

Paraphrased  by  Johnson  in  his  Lojidim,  '  Slow  rises  worth  by  poverty 
depressed.' 

*  Cambridge  thirty-six  years  later  neglected  Parr  as  Oxford  neg- 
lected Johnson.  Both  these  men  had  to  leave  the  University  through 
poverty.     There  were  no  open  scholarships  in  those  days. 

'  Yet  his  college  bills  came  to  only  some  eight  shillings  a  week. 
As  this  was  about  the  average  amount  of  an  undergraduate's  bill  it  is 
clear  that,  so  far  as  food  went,  he  lived,  in  spite  of  Mr.  Carlyle's  asser- 
tion, as  well  as  his  fellow-students. 

therefore, 


Aetat.  21.J  jfo/iiison  leaves  Oxford.  91 

therefore,  by  irresistible  necessity,  he  left  the  College  in  au- 
tumn, 1 73 1,  without  a  degree,  having  been  a  member  of  it 
little  more  than  three  years'. 

'  Mr.Croker  states  that  'an  examination  of  the  college  books  proves 
that  Johnson,  who  entered  on  the  31st  October,  1728,  remained  there, 
even  during  the  vacations,  to  the  12th  December,  1729,  when  he  per- 
sonally left  the  college,  and  never  returned — though  his  name  remained 
on  the  books  till  Sth  October,  1731.'  I  have  gone  into  this  question 
at  great  length  in  my  Dr.  Johnson :  His  Friends  and  His  Critics^  p.  329. 
I  am  of  opinion  that  Mr.  Croker's  general  conclusion  is  right.  The 
proof  of  residence  is  established,  and  alone  established,  by  the  entries 
in  the  buttery  books.  Now  these  entries  show  that  Johnson,  with  the 
exception  of  the  week  in  October  1729  ending  on  the  24th,  was  in  res- 
idence till  December  12,  1729.  He  seems  to  have  returned  for  a  week 
in  March  1730,  and  again  for  a  week  in  the  following  September.  On 
three  other  weeks  there  is  a  charge  against  him  of  fivepence  in  the 
books.  Mr.  Croker  has  made  that  darker  which  was  already  dark 
enough  by  confounding,  as  I  have  shewn,  two  John  Taylors  who  both 
matriculated  at  Christ  Church.  Boswell's  statement  no  doubt  is  pre- 
cise, but  in  this  he  followed  perhaps  the  account  given  by  Hawkins. 
He  would  have  been  less  likely  to  discover  Hawkins's  error  from  the 
fact  that,  as  Johnson's  name  was  for  about  three  years  on  the  College 
books,  he  was  so  long,  in  name  at  least,  a  member  of  the  College. 
Had  Boswell  seen  Johnson's  letter  to  Mr.  Hickman,  quoted  by  Mr. 
Croker  (Croker's  Boswell,  p.  20),  he  would  at  once  have  seen  that  John- 
son could  not  have  remained  at  college  for  a  little  more  than  three 
years.  For  within  three  years  all  but  a  day  of  his  entrance  at  Pem- 
broke, he  writes  to  Mr.  Hickman  from  Lichfield,  'As  I  am  yet  unem- 
ployed, I  hope  you  will,  if  anything  should  offer,  remember  and  recom- 
mend, Sir,  your  humble  servant,  Sam.  Johnson." 

In  Boswell's  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides  (Aug.  15,  1773)  there 
is  a  very  perplexing  passage  bearmg  on  Johnson's  residence  at  Col- 
lege. '  We  talked  of  Whitefield.  He  said  he  was  at  the  same  college 
with  him,  and  knew  him  before  he  began  to  be  better  than  other 
people.'  Now  Johnson,  as  Boswell  tells  us,  read  this  journal  in  manu- 
script. The  statement  therefore  seems  to  be  well-established  indeed. 
Yet  Whitefield  did  not  matriculate  till  Nov.  7,  1732,  a  full  year  after 
Johnson,  according  to  Boswell,  had  left  Oxford.  We  are  told  that, 
when  Johnson  was  living  at  Birmingham,  he  borrowed  Lobo's  Abys- 
sinia from  the  library  of  Pembroke  College.  It  is  probable  enough 
that  a  man  who  frequently  walked  from  Lichfield  to  Birmingham  and 
back  would  have  trudged  all  the  way  to  Oxford  to  fetch  the  book.  In 
that  case  he  might  have  seen  Whitefield.     But  Thomas  Warton  says 

Dr. 


92  His  destitute  state.  [a.d.  1731. 

Dr.  Adams,  the  worthy  and  respectable  master  of  Pem- 
brokc  College,  has  generally  had  the  reputation  of  being 
Johnson's  tutor.  The  fact,  however,  is,  that  in  1731  Mr. 
Jorden  quitted  the  College,  and  his  pupils  were  transferred 
to  Dr.  Adams;  so  that  had  Johnson  returned,  Dr.  Adams 
would  have  been  his  tutor.  It  is  to  be  wished,  that  this  con- 
nection had  taken  place.  His  equal  temper,  mild  disposition, 
and  politeness  of  manner,  might  have  insensibly  softened 
,  the  harshness  of  Johnson,  and  infused  into  him  those  more 
delicate  charities,  those  petites  morales,  in  which,  it  must  be 
confessed,  our  great  moralist  was  more  deficient  than  his 
best  friends  could  fully  justify.  Dr.  Adams  paid  Johnson 
this  high  compliment.  He  said  to  me  at  Oxford,  in  1776, '  I 
was  his  nominal  tutor ' ;  but  he  was  above  my  mark.'  When 
I  repeated  it  to  Johnson,  his  eyes  flashed  with  grateful  sat- 
isfaction, and  he  exclaimed,  '  That  was  liberal  and  noble.' 

And  now  (I  had  almost  said  poor)  Samuel  Johnson  re- 
turned to  his  native  city,  destitute,  and  not  knowing  how  he 
should  gain  even  a  decent  livelihood.  His  father's  misfor- 
tunes in  trade  rendered  him  unable  to  support  his  son '' ;  and 

that '  the  first  time  of  his  being  at  Oxford  after  quitting  the  University- 
was  in  1754'  {post,  under  July  16,  1754). 

'  '  March  16,  1728-9.  Yesterday  in  a  Convocation  Mr.  Wm.  Jorden 
of  Pembroke  Coll.  was  elected  by  the  Univ.  of  Oxford  rector  of  As- 
tocke  in  com.  Wilts  (which  belongs  to  a  Roman  Catholic  family).' 
Hearne's  Remains, '\\\.  17.  His  fellowship  was  filled  up  on  Dec.  23, 
1730.  Boswell's  statement  therefore  is  inaccurate.  If  Johnson  re- 
mained at  college  till  Nov.  1 731,  he  would  have  really  been  for  at  least 
ten  months  Adams's  pupil.  We  may  assume  that  as  his  name  re- 
mained on  the  books  after  Jorden  left  so  he  was  //fw/waZ/K  transferred 
to  Adams.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  Thomas  Warton,  in  the  account 
that  he  gives  of  Johnson's  visit  to  Oxford  in  1754,  says: — '  He  much 
regretted  that  \\\<s,  first  tutor  was  dead.' 

'  According  to  Hawkins  {Life,  pp.  17.  582,  and  post,  Dec.  9,  1784) 
Johnson's  father  was  at  one  time  a  bankrupt.  Johnson,  in  the  epi- 
taph that  he  wrote  for  him  {post,  Dec.  2, 1784),  describes  him  as  '  bibli- 
opola  admodum  peritus,"  but  'rebus  adversis  diu  conflictatus.*  He 
certainly  did  not  die  a  bankrupt,  as  is  shown  by  his  leaving  property 
to  his  widow  and  son,  and  also  by  the  following  MS.  letter,  that  is 
preserved  with  two  others  of  the  same  kind  in  Pembroke  College. 

for 


Aetat.  22.]  Michael  yohnsons  death.  93 

for  some  time  there  appeared  no  means  by  which  he  could 
maintain  himself.  In  the  December  of  this  year  his  father 
died. 

The  state  of  poverty  in  which  he  died,  appears  from  a 
note  in  one  of  Johnson's  little  diaries  of  the  following  year, 
which  strongly  displays  his  spirit  and  virtuous  dignity  of 
mind. 

'  1732,  ytilii  15.  Undecim  aureos  deposiii,  quo  die  qnkqiiid  ante 
matris  funus  {quod  serum  sit  precor)  de  paternis  bonis  sperari  licet, 
viginti  scilicet  libras,  accepi.  Usque  adeo  mi/ii  fortuna  Jingenda  est. 
Interea,  ne  paiipertate  vires  animi  langucscant,  nee  in  flagitia  egestas 
abigat,  cavendum. — I  layed  by  eleven  guineas  on  this  day,  when  I 
received  twenty  pounds,  being  all  that  I  have  reason  to  hope  for 
out  of  my  father's  effects,  previous  to  the  death  of  my  mother  ;  an 
event  which  I  pray  God  may  be  very  remote.  I  now  therefore 
see  that  f  must  make  my  own  fortune.     Meanwhile,  let  me  take 

Ashby,  April  19,  1736. 
Good  S"^., 

I  must  truble  you  again,  my  sister  who  desiurs  her  survis  to 
you,  &  begs  you  will  be  so  good  if  you  can  to  pravale  with  Mr.  Wums- 
ley  to  paye  you  the  little  money  due  to  her  you  may  have  an  opertunity 
to  speak  to  him  &  it  will  be  a  great  truble  for  me  to  have  a  jerney  for 
it  when  if  he  pleasd  he  might  paye  it  you,  it  is  a  poore  case  she  had 
but  little  left  by  Mr.  Johnson  but  his  books  (not  but  he  left  her  all  he 
had)  &.  those  sold  at  a  poore  reat,  and  be  kept  out  of  so  small  a  sume 
by  a  gentleman  so  well  able  to  paye,  if  you  will  doe  y  best  for  the 
widow  will  be  varey  good  in  you,  which  will  oblige  y''  reall  freund 
James  Bate. 

To  Mr.  John  Newton  a  Sider  Seller  at  Litchfield. 
Pd.  ^5  to  Mr.  Newton. 
In  another  hand  is  vvTitten, 

To  Gilbert  Walmesley  Esq.  at  Lichfield. 
And  in  a  third  hand, 

Pd.  ^5  to  Mr.  Newton. 
The  exact  amount  claimed,  as  is  shewn  by  the  letter,  dated  Jan.  31, 
1735,  was  ^5  6s.  \d.  There  is  a  yet  earlier  letter  demanding  payment 
of  ^5  ds.  Afd.  as  '  due  to  me  '  for  books,  signed  D.Johnson,  dated  Swark- 
stone,  Aug.  21,  1733.  It  must  be  the  same  account.  Perhaps  D.  John- 
son was  the  executor.  He  writes  from  Ashby,  where  Michael  Johnson 
had  a  branch  business.  But  I  know  of  no  other  mention  of  him  or 
of  James  Bate.  John  Newton  was  the  father  of  the  Bishop  of  Bristol. 
/W/,  June  3,  1784,  and  Bishop  Newton's  Works,  i.  i. 

care 


94  Gilbert  Walmsley.  [a.d.  I73i. 

care  that  the  powers  of  my  mind  may  not  be  debilitated  by  poverty, 
and  that  indigence  do  not  force  me  into  any  criminal  act.' 

Johnson  was  so  far  fortunate,  that  the  respectable  char- 
acter of  his  parents,  and  his  own  merit,  had,  from  his  earliest 
years,  secured  him  a  kind  reception  in  the  best  families  at 
Lichfield.  Among  these  I  can  mention  Mr.  Howard',  Dr. 
Swinfen,  Mr.  Simpson,  Mr.  Levett\  Captain  Garrick,  father 
of  the  great  ornament  of  the  British  stage  ;  but  above  all, 
Mr.  Gilbert  Walmsley  ^  Register  of  the  Prerogative  Court  of 
Lichfield,  whose  character,  long  after  his  decease,  Dr.  John- 
son has,  in  his  Life  of  Edmund  Smith  \  thus  drawn  in  the 
glowing  colours  of  gratitude  : 

'Of  Gilbert  Walmsley',  thus  presented  to  my  mind,  let  me  in- 
dulge myself  in  the  remembrance.  1  knew  him  very  early;  he  was 
one  of  the  first  friends  that  literature  procured  me,  and  I  hope 
that,  at  least,  my  gratitude  made  me  worthy  of  his  notice. 

'  He  was  of  an  advanced  age,  and  I  was  only  not  a  boy,  yet  he 
never  received  my  notions  with  contempt.  He  was  a  whig,  with 
all  the  virulence  and  malevolence  of  his  party  ;  yet  difference  of 
opinion  did  not  keep  us  apart.  1  honoured  him  and  he  endured 
me. 

'  He  had  mingled  with  the  gay  world  without  exemption  from  its 
vices  or  its  follies  ;  but  had  never  neglected  the  cultivation  of  his 

*  Johnson,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Taylor,  dated  Aug.  i8,  1763,  advised  him, 
in  some  trouble  that  he  had  with  his  wife,  'to  consult  our  old  friend 
Mr.  Howard.  His  profession  has  acquainted  him  with  matrimonial 
law,  and  he  is  in  himself  a  cool  and  wise  man.'  Notes  and  Queries, 
6th  S.  V.  342.     Sg-g^  post,  March  20,  1778,  for  mention  of  his  son. 

*  See  post,  Dec.  i.  1743,  note.  Robert  Levett,  made  famous  by  John- 
son's lines  {post,  Jan.  20,  1782),  was  not  of  this  family. 

'  Mr.  Warton  informs  me,  '  that  this  early  friend  of  Johnson  was  en- 
tered a  Commoner  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  aged  seventeen,  in  1698 ; 
and  is  the  authour  of  many  Latin  verse  translations  in  the  Geftt.  Mag, 
(vol.  XV.  102).     One  of  them  is  a  translation  of 

'  My  time,  O  ye  Muses,  was  happily  spent,'  &c. 
He  died  Aug.  3,  1751,  and  a  monument  to  his  memory  has  been  erected 
in  the  Cathedral  of  Lichfield,  with  an  inscription  written  by  Mr.  Sew- 
ard, one  of  the  Prebendaries.     Boswell. 

*  Johnson's  Works,  vii.  380. 

'  See  post,  1780,  note  at  end  of  Mr,  Langton's  '  Collection.' 

mind. 


Aetat.  22.J  LicJi/Leld  society.  95 

mind.  His  belief  of  revelation  was  unshaken  ;  his  learning  pre- 
served his  principles ;  he  grew  first  regular,  and  then  pious. 

'  His  studies  had  been  so  various,  that  I  am  not  able  to  name  a 
man  of  equal  knowledge.  His  acquaintance  with  books  was  great, 
and  what  he  did  not  immediately  know,  he  could,  at  least,  tell 
where  to  find.  Such  was  his  amplitude  of  learning,  and  such  his 
copiousness  of  communication,  that  it  may  be  doubted  whether  a 
day  now  passes,  in  which  I  have  not  some  advantage  from  his 
friendship. 

' At  this  man's  table  I  enjoyed  many  cheerful  and  instructi\e 
hours,  with  companions,  such  as  are  not  often  found — with  one 
who  has  lengthened,  and  one  who  has  gladdened  life  ;  with  Dr. 
James  ',  whose  skill  in  physick  will  be  long  remembered  ;  and  with 
David  Garrick,  whom  I  hoped  to  have  gratified  with  this  character 
of  our  common  friend.  But  what  are  the  hopes  of  man  !  I  am 
disappointed  by  that  stroke  of  death,  which  has  eclipsed  the  gaiety 
of  nations,  and  impoverished  the  publick  stock  of  harmless  pleas- 


In  these  families  he  passed  much  time  in  his  early  years. 
In  most  of  them,  he  was  in  the  company  of  ladies,  particu- 
larly at  Mr.  Walmsley's,  whose  wife  and  sister.s-in-law,  of  the 
name  of  Aston,  and  daughters  of  a  Baronet,  were  remarkable 
for  good  breeding ;  so  that  the  notion  which  has  been  in- 
dustriously circulated  and  believed,  that  he  never  was  in 
good  company  till  late  in  life,  and,  consequently  had  been 
confirmed  in  coarse  and  ferocious  manners  by  long  habits, 
is  wholly  without  foundation.  Some  of  the  ladies  have 
assured  me,  they  recollected  him  well  when  a  young  man,  as 
distinguished  for  his  complaisance. 

And  that  this  politeness  was  not  merely  occasional  and 
temporary,  or  confined  to  the  circles  of  Lichfield,  is  ascer- 
tained by  the  testimony  of  a  lady,  who,  in  a  paper  with 
which  I  have  been  favoured  by  a  daughter  of  his  intimate 
friend  and  physician,  Dr.  Lawrence,  thus  describes  Dr.  John- 
son some  years  afterwards: 

'  As  the  particulars  of  the  former  part  of  Dr.  Johnson's  life  do 

I  St.^post,  1743.  '  St^post,  April  24,  1779. 

not 


96  Molly  Aston,  [a.d.  17M. 

not  seem  to  be  very  accurately  known,  a  lady  hopes  that  the  fol- 
lowing information  may  not  be  unacceptable. 

'  She  remembers  Dr.  Johnson  on  a  visit  to  Dr.  Taylor,  at  Ash- 
bourn,  some  time  between  the  end  of  the  year  37.  and  the  middle 
of  the  year  40  ;  she  rather  thinks  it  to  have  been  after  he  and  his 
wife  were  removed  to  London'.  During  his  stay  at  Ashbourn,  he 
made  frequent  visits  to  Mr.  Meynell ',  at  Bradley,  where  his  com- 
pany was  much  desired  by  the  ladies  of  the  family,  who  were,  per- 
haps, in  point  of  elegance  and  accomplishments,  inferiour  to  few 
of  those  with  whom  he  was  afterwards  acquainted.  Mr.  Meynell's 
eldest  daughter  was  aftei^wards  married  to  Mr.  Fitzherbert^  father 
to  Mr.  Alleyne  Fitzherbert,  lately  minister  to  the  court  of  Russia. 
Of  her,  Dr.  Johnson  said,  in  Dr.  Lawrence's  study,  that  she  had  the 
best  understanding  he  ever  met  with  in  any  human  being*.  At 
Mr.  Meynell's  he  also  commenced  that  friendship  with  Mrs.  Hill 
Boothby\  sister  to  the  present  Sir  Brook  Boothby,  which  con- 
tinued till  her  death.  The  young  woman  whom  he  used  to  call  Molly 
Aston'',  was  sister  to  Sir  Thomas  Aston,  and  daughter  to  a  Baronet ; 

I  Hawkins  {Ll/c,  p.  61)  says  that  in  August,  1738  {}  1739),  Johnson 
went  to  Appleby,  in  Leicestershire,  to  apply  for  the  mastership  of 
Appleby  School.  This  was  after  he  and  his  wife  had  removed  to 
London.     It  is  likely  that  he  visited  Ashbourne. 

'  'Old  Meynell '  is  mentioned, /^'j-/,  1780,  in  Mr.  Langton's  '  Collec- 
tion,'as  the  author  of  *  the  observation,  "  For  anything  I  see,  foreigners 
are  fools;"'  and  '  Mr.  Meynell,' /(^.y/,  April  i,  1779,  as  saying  that  'The 
chief  advantage  of  London  is,  that  a  man  is  always  so  near  his  burrow? 

'  See  post,  under  March  16,  1759,  note,  and  April  21,  1773.  Mr. 
Alleyne  Fitzherbert  was  created  Lord  St.  Helens. 

■*  Se.e.posf,  1780,  end  of  Mr.  Langton's  'Collection.' 

'  Johnson,  writing  to  Dr.  Taylor  on  July  31,  1756,  said, — '  I  find  my- 
self very  unwilling  to  take  up  a  pen,  only  to  tell  my  friends  that  I  am 
well,  and  indeed  I  never  did  exchange  letters  regularly  but  with  dear 
Miss  Boothby.'  N^otes  and  Queries,  6th  S.  v.  304.  At  the  end  of  the 
Piozzi  Letters  are  given  some  of  his  letters  to  her.  They  were  repub- 
lished together  with  her  letters  to  him  in  An  Account  of  the  Life  of 
Dr.  Samuel  fohnson,  1805. 

*  The  words  of  Sir  John  Hawkins,  p.  316.  Boswelt..  '  When  Mr. 
Thrale  once  asked  Johnson  which  had  been  the  happiest  period  of  his 
past  life,  he  replied,  "  it  was  that  year  in  which  he  spent  one  whole 
evening  with  Molly  Aston.  That,  indeed,"  said  he,  "was  not  happi- 
ness, it  was  rapture ;  but  the  thoughts  of  it  sweetened  the  whole 
year."     I  must  add  that  the  evening  alluded  to  was  not  passed  tete-a- 

she 


Aetat.  23.]  Johnson  an   Usher.  97 

she  was  also  sister  to  the  wife  of  his  friend  Mr.  Gilbert  Walms- 
ley'.  Besides  his  intimacy  with  the  above-mentioned  persons 
who  were  surely  people  of  rank  and  education,  while  he  was  yet 
at  Lichfield  he  used  to  be  frequently  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Swin- 
fen,  a  gentleman  of  a  very  ancient  family  in  Staffordshire,  from 
which,  after  the  death  of  his  elder  brother,  he  inherited  a  good 
estate.  He  was,  besides,  a  physician  of  very  extensive  practice  ; 
but  for  want  of  due  attention  to  the  management  of  his  domestick 
concerns,  left  a  very  large  family  in  indigence.  One  of  his  daugh- 
ters, Mrs.  Desmoulins,  afterwards  found  an  asylum  in  the  house  of 
her  old  friend,  whose  doors  were  always  open  to  the  unfortunate, 
and  who  well  observed  the  precept  of  the  Gospel,  for  he  "  was  kind 
to  the  unthankful  and  to  the  evil^'"' 

In  the  forlorn  state  of  his  circumstances,  he  accepted  of 
an  offer  to  be  employed  as  usher  in  the  school  of  Market- 
Bosworth,  in  Leicestershire,  to  which  it  appears,  from  one  of 
his  little  fragments  of  a  diary,  that  he  went  on  foot,  on  the 
16th  of  July. — '  Jidii  16.     Bosvortiam  pedes  petii^.'     But  it 

tete,  but  in  a  select  company  of  which  the  present  Lord  Kilmorey  was 
one.     "  Molly,"  says  Dr.  Johnson,  "  was  a  beauty  and  a  scholar,  and  a 
wit  and  a  whig ;  and  she  talked  all  in  praise  of  liberty ;  and  so  I  made 
this  epigram  upon  her — She  was  the  loveliest  creature  I  ever  saw — 
'  Liber  ut  esse  velim  suasisti  pulchra  Maria ; 
Ut  maneam  liber — pulchra  Maria  vale." 

'  Will  it  do  this  way  in  English,  Sir,'  said  I : — 

'  Persuasions  to  freedom  fall  oddly  from  you ; 
If  freedom  we  seek — fair  Maria,  adieu  !' 

'It  will  do  well  enough,'  replied  he  ;  'but  it  is  translated  by  a  lady, 
and  the  ladies  never  loved  Molly  Aston.'  Piozzi's  Anec.  p.  157.  See 
post,  May  8,  1778. 

'  Sir  Thomas  Aston,  Bart.,  who  died  in  January  1724-5,  left  one 
son,  named  Thomas  also,  and  eight  daughters.  Of  the  daughters, 
Catherine  married  Johnson's  friend,  the  Hon.  Henry  Hervey  [post, 
1 737 1 ;  Margaret,  Gilbert  Walmsley.  Another  of  these  ladies  married 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Gastrell  [the  man  who  cut  down  Shakspeare's  mulberry 
tree, posf,  March  25,  1776] ;  Mary,  or  Molly  Aston,  as  she  was  usually 
called,  became  the  wife  of  Captain  Brodie  of  the  navy.     Malone. 

*  Luke  vi.  35. 

'  If  this  was  in  1732  it  was  on  the  morrow  of  the  day  on  which  he 
received  his  share  of  his  father's  property,  ante,  p.  93.    A  letter  pub- 

I.-7  is 


98  'Jo/inson  an  usher.  [a. d.  1732. 

is  not  true,  as  has  been  erroneously  related,  that  he  was 
assistant  to  the  famous  Anthony  Blackwall,  whose  merit  has 
been  honoured  by  the  testimony  of  Bishop  Hurd',  who  was 
his  scholar;  for  Mr.  Blackwall  died  on  the  8th  of  April,  1730', 
more  than  a  year  before  Johnson  left  the  University'. 

This  employment  was  very  irksome  to  him  in  ever\' 
respect,  and  he  complained  grievously  of  it  in  his  letters  to 
his  friend  Mr.  Hector,  who  was  now  settled  as  a  surgeon  at 
Birmingham.  The  letters  are  lost ;  but  Mr.  Hector  recol- 
lects his  writing  'that  the  poet  had  described  the  dull  same- 
ness of  his  existence  in  these  words,  "  Vitam  coyitinet  una 
dies  "  (one  day  contains  the  whole  of  my  life) ;  that  it  was 
unvaried  as  the  note  of  the  cuckow  ;  and  that  he  did  not 
know  whether  it  was  more  disagreeable  for  him  to  teach,  or 
the  boys  to  learn,  the  grammar  rules.'  His  general  aversion 
to  this  painful  drudgery  was  greatly  enhanced  by  a  disagree- 
ment between  him  and  Sir  Wolstan  Dixey,  the  patron  of 
the  school,  in  whose  house,  I  have  been  told,  he  officiated 
as  a  kind  of  domestick  chaplain,  so  far,  at  least,  as  to  say 
grace  at  table,  but  w^as  treated  with  what  he  represented  as 
intolerable  harshness* ;  and,  after  suffering  for  a  few  months 
such  complicated  misery^  he  relinquished  a  situation  which 

lished  in  Notes  and  Queries,  6th  S.  x.  421,  shews  that  for  a  short  time 
he  was  tutor  to  the  son  of  Mr.  Whitby  of  Heywood. 

'  Bishop  Hurd  does  not  praise  Blackwall,  but  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bud- 
worth,  headmaster  of  the  grammar  school  at  Brewood,  who  had  himself 
been  bred  under  Blackwall.  Malone.  Mr.  Nichols  relates  (po$i,Dtc. 
1784)  that  Johnson  applied  for  the  post  of  assistant  to  Mr.  Budworth. 

*  See  Gent.  Mag.  Dec.  1784,  p.  957.     Boswell. 

*  See  ante,  p.  91. 

*  The  patron's  manners  were  those  of  the  neighbourhood.  Hutton, 
writing  of  this  town  in  1770,  says, — '  The  inhabitants  set  their  dogs  at 
me  merely  because  I  was  a  stranger.  Surrounded  with  impassable 
roads,  no  intercourse  with  man  to  humanize  the  mind,  no  commerce 
to  smooth  their  rugged  manners,  they  continue  the  boors  of  nature.' 
Life  of  IV.  Hutton,  p.  45. 

'  It  appears  from  a  letter  of  Johnson's  to  a  friend,  dated  Lichfield, 
July  27,  1732,  that  he  had  left  Sir  Wolstan  Dixie's  house  recently,  be- 
fore that  letter  was  written.     MalONE, 

all 


Aeut.  23.J  His  life  in  Birmingham.  99 

all  his  life  afterwards  he  recollected  with  the  strongest  aver- 
sion, and  even  a  degree  of  horrour'.  But  it  is  probable  that 
at  this  period,  whatever  uneasiness  he  may  have  endured,  he 
laid  the  foundation  of  much  future  eminence  by  application 
to  his  studies. 

Being  now  again  totally  unoccupied,  he  was  invited  by 
Mr.  Hector  to  pass  some  time  with  him  at  Birmingham, 
as  his  guest,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Warren,  with  whom  Mr. 
Hector  lodged  and  boarded.  Mr.  Warren  was  the  first 
established  bookseller  in  Birmingham,  and  was  very  atten- 
tive to  Johnson,  who  he  soon  found  could  be  of  much  ser- 
vice to  him  in  his  trade,  by  his  knowledge  of  literature ;  and 
he  even  obtained  the  assistance  of  his  pen  in  furnishing 
some  numbers  of  a  periodical  Essay  printed  in  the  news- 
paper,  of  which  Warren  was  proprietor'.  After  very  diligent 
inquir)',  I  have  not  been  able  to  recover  those  early  speci- 
mens of  that  particular  mode  of  writing  by  which  Johnson 
afterwards  so  greatly  distinguished  himself. 

He  continued  to  live  as  Mr.  Hector's  guest  for  about  six 
months,  and    then    hired    lodgings   in   another   part   of   the 

*  '  The  despicable  wretchedness  of  teaching,'  wrote  Carlyle,  in  his 
twenty-fourth  year,  when  he  was  himself  a  teacher,  '  can  be  known 
only  to  those  who  have  tried  it,  and  to  Him  who  made  the  heart  and 
knows  it  all.  One  meets  with  few  spectacles  more  afflicting  than  that 
of  a  young  man  with  a  free  spirit,  with  impetuous  though  honourable 
feelings,  condemned  to  waste  the  flower  of  his  life  in  such  a  calling; 
to  fade  in  it  by  slow  and  sure  corrosion  of  discontent;  and  at  last  ob- 
scurely and  unprofitably  to  leave,  with  an  indignant  joy,  the  miseries 
of  a  world  which  his  talents  might  have  illustrated  and  his  virtues 
adorned.  Such  things  have  been  and  will  be.  But  surely  in  that 
better  life  which  good  men  dream  of,  the  spirit  of  a  Kepler  or  a  Milton 
will  find  a  more  propitious  destiny.'     Conway's  Carlyle, -f^.  176. 

'  This  newspaper  was  the  B/niilng/iai/i  Journal.  In  the  office  of 
the  Birminghavi  Daily  Post  is  preserved  the  number  (No.  28)  for  May 
21,  1733.  It  is  believed  to  be  the  only  copy  in  existence.  Warren  is 
described  by  W.  Hutton  {Life,  p.  77)  as  one  of  the  'three  eminent 
booksellers'  in  Birmingham  in  1750.  'His  house  was  "over  against 
the  Swan  Tavern."  in  High  Street ;  doubtless  in  one  of  the  old  half- 
timbered  houses  pulled  down  in  1838  [1850].'  Timmins's  Dr.  Johnson 
in  Birmingham,  p.  4. 

town, 


loo  Lobos  Voyage  to  Abyssinia.         [a.d.  nas. 

town',  finding  himself  as  well  situated  at  Birmingham'  as 
he  supposed  he  could  be  any  where,  while  he  had  no  set- 
tled plan  of  life,  and  very  scanty  means  of  subsistence.  He 
made  some  valuable  acquaintances  there,  amongst  whom 
were  Mr.  Porter,  a  mercer,  whose  widow  he  afterwards  mar- 
ried, and  Mr.  Taylor  %  who  by  his  ingenuity  in  mechanical 
inventions,  and  his  success  in  trade,  acquired  an  immense 
fortune.  But  the  comfort  of  being  near  Mr.  Hector,  his 
old  school -fellow  and  intimate  friend,  was  Johnson's  chief 
inducement  to  continue  here. 

In  what  manner  he  employed  his  pen  at  this  period,  or 
whether  he  derived  from  it  any  pecuniary  advantage,  I  have 
not  been  able  to  ascertain.  He  probably  got  a  little  money 
from  Mr.  Warren  ;  and  we  are  certain,  that  he  executed 
here  one  piece  of  literary  labour,  of  which  Mr.  Hector  has 
favoured  me  with  a  minute  account.  Having  mentioned 
that  he  had  read  at  Pembroke  College  a  Voyage  to  Abys- 
sinia, by  Lobo,  a  Portuguese  Jesuit,  and  that  he  thought 
an  abridgment  and  translation  of  it  from  the  French  into 
English  might  be  an  useful  and  profitable  publication,  Mr. 
Warren  and  Mr.  Hector  joined  in  urging  him  to  undertake  it. 

'  '  In  the  month  of  June  1733,  I  find  him  resident  in  the  house  of  a 
person  named  Jarvis,  at  Birmingham.'  Hawkins,  p.  21.  His  wife's 
maiden  name  was  Jarvis  or  Jervis. 

'  In  1 741,  Hutton,  a  runaway  apprentice,  arrived  at  Birmingham. 
He  says, — '  I  had  never  seen  more  than  five  towns,  Nottingham,  Derby, 
Burton,  Lichfield  and  Walsall.  The  outskirts  of  these  were  composed 
of  wretched  dwellings,  visibly  stamped  with  dirt  and  poverty.  But  the 
buildings  in  the  exterior  of  Birmingham  rose  in  a  style  of  elegance. 
Thatch,  so  plentiful  in  other  places,  was  not  to  be  met  with  in  this. 
The  people  possessed  a  vivacity  I  had  never  beheld.  I  had  been 
among  dreamers,  but  now  I  saw  men  awake.  Their  very  step  along 
the  street  showed  alacrity.  Every  man  seemed  to  know  what  he  was 
about.  The  faces  of  other  men  seemed  tinctured  with  an  idle  gloom ; 
but  here  with  a  pleasing  alertness.  Their  appearance  was  strongly 
marked  with  the  modes  of  civil  life."     Life  of  IV.  Hutton,  p.  41. 

'  Hutton,  in  his  account  of  the  Birmingham  riots  of  1791,  describing 
the  destruction  of  a  Mr.  Taylor's  house,  says, — '  The  sons  of  plunder 
forgot  that  the  prosperity  of  Birmingham  was  owing  to  a  Dissenter, 
father  to  the  man  whose  property  they  were  destroying  ;'  ib.  p.  i  S  i . 

He 


Aetat.  24.]  Lobd S    VoYAGE   TO  AbySSINIA.  lOl 


He  accordingly  agreed  ;  and  the  book  not  being  to  be  found 
in  Birmingham,  he  borrowed  it  of  Pembroke  College.  A  part 
of  the  work  being  very  soon  done,  one  Osborn,  who  was  Mr. 
Warren's  printer,  was  set  to  work  with  what  was  ready,  and 
Johnson  engaged  to  supply  the  press  with  copy  as  it  should 
be  wanted ;  but  his  constitutional  indolence  soon  prevailed, 
and  the  work  was  at  a  stand.  Mr.  Hector,  who  knew  that 
a  motive  of  humanity  would  be  the  most  prevailing  argu- 
ment with  his  friend,  went  to  Johnson,  and  represented  to 
him,  that  the  printer  could  have  no  other  employment  till 
this  undertaking  was  finished,  and  that  the  poor  man  and 
his  family  were  suffering.  Johnson  upon  this  exerted  the 
powers  of  his  mind,  though  his  body  was  relaxed.  He  lay 
in  bed  with  the  book,  which  was  a  quarto,  before  him,  and 
dictated  while  Hector  wrote.  Mr.  Hector  carried  the  sheets 
to  the  press,  and  corrected  almost  all  the  proof  sheets,  very 
few  of  which  were  even  seen  by  Johnson.  In  this  manner, 
with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Hector's  active  friendship,  the  book  was 
completed,  and  was  published  in  1735,  with  LOND(3N  upon 
the  title-page,  though  it  was  in  reality  printed  at  Birming- 
ham, a  device  too  common  with  provincial  publishers.  For 
this  work  he  had  from  Mr.  Warren  only  the  sum  of  five 
guineas'. 

This  being  the  first  prose  work  of  Johnson,  it  is  a  curious 
object  of  inquiry  how  much  may  be  traced  in  it  of  that 
style  which  marks  his  subsequent  writings  with  such  peculiar 
excellence  ;  with  so  happy  an  union  of  force,  vivacity,  and 
perspicuity.  I  have  perused  the  book  with  this  view,  and 
have  found  that  here,  as  I  believe  in  every  other  transla- 
tion, there  is  in  the  work  itself  no  vestige  of  the  translator's 
own  style  ;  for  the  language  of  translation  being  adapted  to 
the  thoughts  of  another  person,  insensibly  follows  their  cast, 
and,  as  it  were,  runs  into  a  mould  that  is  ready  prepared'. 

*  Johnson,  it  should  seem,  did  not  think  himself  ill-used  by  Warren  ; 
for  writing  to  Hector  on  April  15,  1755,  he  says, — 'What  news  of  poor 
Warren  ?  I  havfe  not  lost  all  my  kindness  for  him.'  Notes  and  Qun-ics, 
6th  S.  iii.  3or. 

'  That  it  is  by  no  means  an  exact  translation  Johnson's  Preface 

\\"?K^  Thus, 

.!..!1.-.V^"^-^^ 


I02  Lobos  Voyage  to  Abyssinia.         [a.d.  1733. 

Thus,  for  instance,  taking  the  first  sentence  that  occurs  at 
the  opening  of  the  book,  p.  4. 

'  I  Uved  here  above  a  year,  and  completed  my  studies  in  divinity ; 
in  which  time  some  letters  were  received  from  the  fathers  of 
Ethiopia,  with  an  account  that  Sultan  Segned',  Emperour  of 
Abyssinia,  was  converted  to  the  church  of  Rome  ;  that  many  of 
his  subjects  had  followed  his  example,  and  that  there  was  a  great 
want  of  missionaries  to  improve  these  prosperous  beginnings. 
Every  body  was  very  desirous  of  seconding  the  zeal  of  our  fathers, 
and  of  sending  them  the  assistance  they  requested  ;  to  which  we 
were  the  more  encouraged,  because  the  Emperour's  letter  informed 
our  Provincial,  that  we  might  easily  enter  his  dominions  by  the 
way  of  Dancala  ;  but,  unhappily,  the  secretary  wrote  Geila"  for 
Dancala,  which  cost  two  of  our  fathers  their  lives.' 

Every  one  acquainted  with  Johnson's  manner  will  be  sen- 
sible that  there  is  nothing  of  it  here;  but  that  this  sentence 
might  have  been  composed  by  any  other  man. 

But,  in  the  Preface,  the  Johnsonian  style  begins  to  appear; 
and  though  use  had  not  yet  taught  his  wing  a  permanent 
and  equable  flight,  there  are  parts  of  it  which  exhibit  his 
best  manner  in  full  vigour.  I  had  once  the  pleasure  of  ex- 
amining it  with  Mr.  Edmund  Burke,  who  confirmed  me  in 
this  opinion,  by  his  superiour  critical  sagacity,  and  was,  I 
remember,  much  delighted  with  the  following  specimen  : 

'  The  Portuguese  traveller,  contrary  to  the  general  vein  of  his 
countrymen,  has  amused  his  reader  with  no  romantick  absurdity, 
or  incredible  fictions  ;  whatever  he  relates,  whether  true  or  not,  is 
at  least  probable  ;  and  he  who  tells  nothing  exceeding  the  bounds 
of  probability,  has  a  right  to  demand  that  they  should  believe  him 
who  cannot  contradict  him. 

*  He  appears,  by  his  modest  and  unaffected  narration,  to  have 
described  things  as  he  saw  them,  to  have  copied  nature  from  the 
life,  and  to  have  consulted  his  senses,  not  his  imagination.  He 
meets  with  no  basilisks  that  destroy  with  their  eyes,  his  crocodiles 

shows.     He  saj^s  that  in  the  dissertations  alone  an  exact  translation 
has  been  attempted.    The  rest  of  the  work  he  describes  as  an  epitome. 

'  In  the  original,  Segued. 

'  In  the  original.  Zetla. 

devour 


Aetat.  34.]  Lobd s  Voyage  to  Abyssinia.  103 

devour  their  prey  without  tears,  and  his  cataracts  fall  from  the 
rocks  without  deafening  the  neighbouring  inhabitants'. 

'  The  reader  will  here  find  no  regions  cursed  with  irremediable 
barrenness,  or  blessed  with  spontaneous  fecundity ;  no  perpetual 
gloom,  or  unceasing  sunshine  ;  nor  are  the  nations  here  described 
either  devoid  of  all  sense  of  humanity,  or  consummate  in  all  private 
or  social  virtues.  Here  are  no  Hottentots  without  religious  polity 
or  articulate  language* ;  no  Chinese  perfectly  polite,  and  com- 
pletely skilled  in  all  sciences  ;  he  will  discover,  what  will  always 
be  discovered  by  a  diligent  and  impartial  enquirer,  that  wherever 
human  nature  is  to  be  found,  there  is  a  mixture  of  vice  and  virtue, 
a  contest  of  passion  and  reason  ;  and  that  the  Creator  doth  not 
appear  partial  in  his  distributions,  but  has  balanced,  in  most  coun- 
tries, their  particular  inconveniences  by  particular  favours.' 

Here  we  have  an  early  example  of  that  brilliant  and  en- 
ergetick  expression,  which,  upon  innumerable  occasions  in 
his  subsequent  life,  justly  impressed  the  world  with  the 
highest  admiration. 

Nor  can  any  one,  conversant  with  the  writings  of  Johnson, 
fail  to  discern  his  hand  in  this  passage  of  the  Dedication  to 
John  Warren,  Esq.  of  Pembrokeshire,  though  it  is  ascribed 
to  Warren  the  bookseller: 

'  A  generous  and  elevated  mind  is  distinguished  by  nothing  more 
certainly  than  an  eminent  degree  of  curiosity^ ;  nor  is  that  curiosity 

*  Lobo,  in  describing  a  waterfall  on  the  Nile,  had  said  : — ■'  The  fall  of 
this  mighty  stream  from  so  great  a  height  makes  a  noise  that  may  be 
heard  to  a  considerable  distance ;  but  I  could  not  observe  that  the 
neighbouring  inhabitants  were  at  all  deaf.  I  conversed  with  several, 
and  was  as  easily  heard  by  them  as  I  heard  them,'  p.  loi. 

'  In  the  original,  without  religioti, polity,  or  articulate  latiguage. 

'  See  Rambler,  No.  103,  Boswell.  Johnson  in  other  passages  in- 
sisted on  the  high  value  of  curiosity.  In  this  same  Rambler  he  says : 
— '  Curiosity  is  one  of  the  permanent  and  certain  characteristics  of  a 
vigorous  intellect.'  In  the  allegory  in  Ratubler,  No.  105,  he  calls  curi- 
osity his  'long-loved  protectress,'  v/ho  is  known  by  truth  'among  the 
most  faithful  of  her  followers.'  In  No.  150  he  writes :—' Curiosity  is 
in  great  and  generous  minds  the  first  passion  and  the  last ;  and  per- 
haps always  predominates  in  proportion  to  the  strength  of  the  con- 
templative faculties.'     In  No.  5  he  asserts  that  *  he  that  enlarges  his 

ever 


I04  Proposals  to  print  Folitian.        [a.d.  1784. 

ever  more  agreeably  or  usefully  employed,  than  in  examining  the 
laws  and  customs  of  foreign  nations.  I  hope,  therefore,  the  pres- 
ent I  now  presume  to  make,  will  not  be  thought  improper  ;  which, 
however,  it  is  not  my  business  as  a  dedicator  to  commend,  nor  as 
a  bookseller  to  depreciate.' 

It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  his  having  been  thus  acci- 
dentally led  to  a  particular  study  of  the  histor}-  and  manners 
of  Abyssinia,  was  the  remote  occasion  of  his  writing,  many 
years  afterwards,  his  admirable  philosophical  talc',  the  prin- 
cipal scene  of  which  is  laid  in  that  country. 

Johnson  returned  to  Lichfield  early  in  1734,  and  in  Au- 
gust' that  year  he  made  an  attempt  to  procure  some  little 
subsistence  by  his  pen  ;  for  he  published  proposals  for  print- 
ing by  subscription  the  Latin  Poems  of  Politian^ :  'Angeli 
Politiaiii  Poemata  Laiina,  quibus,  Notas  cum  Jiistorid  LatincB 
poeseoSj  a  PetrarchcB  (Bvo  ad  Politiani  tempora  deductd,  et 
vita  Politiani  fusius  quam  antehac  enarratd,  addidit  Sam. 
Johnson'. 

curiosity  after  the  works  of  nature  demonstrably  multiplies  the  inlets 
to  happiness.' 

'  Rasselas, /£>.?/,  1759. 

'  Hawkins  (p.  163)  gives  the  following  extract  from  Johnson's  An- 
nates: — '  Friday,  August  27  (1734),  10  at  night.  This  day  I  have  trified 
away,  except  that  I  have  attended  the  school  in  the  morning.  I  read 
to-night  in  Rogers's  sermons.  To-night  I  began  the  breakfast  law 
(sic)  anew.' 

^  May  we  not  trace  a  fanciful  similarity  between  Folitian  and 
Johnson  }  Huetius,  speaking  of  Paulus  Felissonius  Fontanerius,  says, 
'  ...  in  quo  Natura,  ut  olim  in  Angelo  Politiano,  deformitatem  oris 
excellentis  ingenii  praestantia  compensavit.'  Comment,  de  reb.  ad eum 
pertin.  Edit.  Amstel.  1718,  p.  200.  Boswell.  In  Paulus  Felissonius 
Fontanerius  we  have  difficulty  in  detecting  Mme.  de  Sevigne's  friend, 
Pelisson,  of  whom  M.  de  Guilleragues  used  the  phrase,  'qu'il  abusait 
de  la  permission  qu'ont  les  hommes  d'etre  laids.'  See  Mme.  de  Sevigne's 
Letter,  5  Jan.,  1674.     Croker. 

*  The  book  was  to  contain  more  than  thirty  sheets,  the  price  to  be 
two  shillings  and  sixpence  at  the  time  of  subscribing,  and  two  shillings 
and  sixpence  at  the  delivery  of  a  perfect  book  in  quires.  Boswell. 
'  Among  the  books  in  his  library,  at  the  time  of  his  decease,  I  found  a 
very  old  and  curious  edition  of  the  works  of  Folitian,  which  appeared 
to  belong  to  Pembroke  College,  Oxford.'    Hawkins,  p.  445.    See  post. 

It. 


Aetat.25.]        First  letter  to  Edward  Cave.  105 

It  appears  that  his  brother  NathanaeP  had  taken  up  his 
father's  trade ;  for  it  is  mentioned  that  '  subscriptions  are 
taken  in  by  the  Editor,  or  N.  Johnson,  bookseller,  of  Lich- 
field.' Notwithstanding  the  merit  of  Johnson,  and  the  cheap 
price  at  which  this  book  was  offered,  there  were  not  subscri- 
bers enough  to  insure  a  sufficient  sale ;  so  the  work  never 
appeared,  and  probably,  never  was  executed. 

We  find  him  again  this  year  at  Birmingham,  and  there  is  pre- 
served the  following  letter  from  him  to  Mr.  Edward  Cave^  the 
original  compiler  and  editor  of  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine  : 

To  Mr.  Cave. 

'Sir,  Nov.  25,  1734. 

'  As  you  appear  no  less  sensible  than  your  readers  of  the  de- 
fects of  your  poetical  article,  you  will  not  be  displeased,  if,  in  order 
to  the  improvement  of  it,  I  communicate  to  you  the  sentiments  of 
a  person,  who  will  undertake,  on  reasonable  terms,  sometimes  to 
fill  a  column. 

'  His  opinion  is,  that  the   publick  would   not  give  you   a   bad 

Nov.  1784.  In  his  last  work  he  shews  his  fondness  for  modern  Latin 
poetry.  He  says : — '  Pope  had  sought  for  images  and  sentiments  in  a 
region  not  known  to  have  been  explored  by  many  other  of  the  Eng- 
lish writers ;  he  had  consulted  the  modern  writers  of  Latin  poetry,  a 
class  of  authors  whom  Boileau  endeavoured  to  bring  into  contempt, 
and  who  are  too  generally  neglected.'     Johnson's  Works,  \\\\.  299. 

^  A  writer  in  Notes  and  Queries,  ist  S.  xii.  266,  says  'that  he  has  a 
letter  written  by  Nathanael,  in  which  he  makes  mention  of  his  brother 
"  scarcely  using  him  with  common  civility,"  and  says,  "  I  believe  I 
shall  go  to  Georgia  in  about  a  fortnight !"  '  Nathanael  died  in  Lich- 
field in  1737  ;  see  post,  Dec.  2,  1784,  for  his  epitaph.  Among  the  MSS. 
in  Pembroke  College  Library  are  bills  for  books  receipted  by  Nath. 
Johnson  and  by  Sarah  Johnson  (his  mother).  She  writes  like  a  per- 
son of  little  education. 

*  Miss  Cave,  the  grand-niece  of  Mr.  Edward  Cave,  has  obligingly 
shewn  me  the  originals  of  this  and  the  other  letters  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
to  him,  which  were  first  published  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  [Iv.  3],  with  notes 
by  Mr.  John  Nichols,  the  worthy  and  indefatigable  editor  of  that  valu- 
able miscellany,  signed  N. ;  some  of  which  I  shall  occasionally  tran- 
scribe in  the  course  of  this  work.  Boswell.  I  was  able  to  examine 
some  of  these  letters  while  they  were  still  in  the  possession  of  one  of 
Cave's  collateral  descendants,  and  I  have  in  one  or  two  places  cor- 
rected errors  of  transcription. 

reception. 


io6  First  letter  to  Edward  Cave.  [a. d.  1734. 

reception,  if,  beside  the  current  wit  of  the  month,  which  a  critical 
examination  would  generally  reduce  to  a  narrow  compass,  you  ad- 
mitted not  only  poems,  inscriptions,  &c.  never  printed  before,  which 
he  will  sometimes  supply  you  with  ;  but  likewise  short  literary  dis- 
sertations in  Latin  or  English,  critical  remarks  on  authours  ancient 
or  modern,  forgotten  poems  that  deserve  revival,  or  loose  pieces, 
like  Floyer's',  worth  preserving.  By  this  method,  your  literary 
article,  for  so  it  might  be  called,  will,  he  thinks,  be  better  recom- 
mended to  the  publick  than  by  low  jests,  aukward  buffoonery,  or 
the  dull  scurrilities  of  either  party. 

'  If  such  a  correspondence  will  be  agreeable  to  you,  be  pleased 
to  inform  me  in  two  posts,  what  the  conditions  are  on  which  you 
shall  expect  it.     Your  late  offer'^   gives  me  no  reason  to  distrust 

'  Sir  John  Floyer's  Treatise  on  Cold  Baths.  Gfnt.  Mag.  1734,  p.  197. 
BoswELL.  This  letter  shews  how  uncommon  a  thing  a  cold  bath  was. 
Floyer,  after  recommending  'a  general  method  of  bleeding  and  purg- 
ing' before  the  patient  uses  cold  bathing,  continues, '  I  have  commonly 
cured  the  rickets  by  dipping  children  of  a  year  old  in  the  bath  every 
morning;  and  this  wonderful  effect  has  encouraged  me  to  dip  four 
boys  at  Lichfield  in  the  font  at  their  baptism,  and  none  have  suffered 
any  inconvenience  by  it.'  (For  mention  of  Floyer,  see  ante,  p.  50,  and 
post,  March  27  and  July  20,  1784.)  Locke,  in  his  Treatise  cm  Kdttca- 
tion,  had  recommended  cold  bathing  for  children.  Johnson,  in  his 
review  of  Lucas's  Essay  on  Waters  {post,  1756),  thus  attacks  cold  bath- 
ing : — '  It  is  incident  to  physicians,  I  am  afraid,  beyond  all  other  men, 
to  mistake  subsequence  for  consequence.  "  The  old  gentleman,"  says 
Dr.  Lucas,  "that  uses  the  cold  bath,  enjoys  in  return  an  uninterrupted 
state  of  health."  This  instance  does  not  prove  that  the  cold  bath 
produces  health,  but  only  that  it  will  not  always  destroy  it.  He  is 
well  with  the  bath,  he  would  have  been  well  without  it.'  Literary 
Magazine,  p.  229. 

^  A  prize  of  fifty  pounds  for  the  best  poem  on  '  Life,  Death,  Judge- 
ment, Heaven,  and  Hell.'  See  Gent.  Mag.  vol.  iv.  p.  560.  N.  Boswp:i,l. 
'  Cave  sometimes  offered  subjects  for  poems,  and  proposed  prizes  for 
the  best  performers.  The  first  prize  was  fifty  pounds,  for  which,  being 
but  newly  acquainted  with  wealth,  and  thinking  the  influence  of  fifty 
pounds  extremely  great,  he  expected  the  first  authors  of  the  kingdom 
to  appear  as  competitors ;  and  offered  the  allotment  of  the  prize  to 
the  universities.  But  when  the  time  came,  no  name  was  seen  among 
the  writers  that  had  ever  been  seen  before ;  the  universities  and  sev- 
eral private  men  rejected  the  province  of  assigning  the  prize.'  John- 
son's Works,  vi.  432, 

your 


Aetat.25.]         Verses  on  a  sprig  of  myrtle.  107 

your  generosity.  If  you  engage  in  any  literary  projects  besides 
this  paper,  I  have  other  designs  to  impart,  if  I  could  be  secure 
from  having  others  reap  the  advantage  of  what  I  should  hint. 

'Your  letter  by  being  directed  to  S.  Sfnit/i,  to  be  left  at  the 
Castle  in'  Birmingham,  Warwickshire,  will  reach 

'  Your  humble  servant' 

Mr.  Cave  has  put  a  note  on  this  letter,  'Answered  Dec.  2.' 
But  whether  anything  was  done  in  consequence  of  it  we  are 
not  informed. 

Johnson  had,  from  his  early  youth,  been  sensible  to  the 
influence  of  female  charms.  When  at  Stourbridge  school, 
he  was  much  enamoured  of  Olivia  Lloyd,  a  young  quaker, 
to  whom  he  wrote  a  copy  of  verses,  which  I  have  not  been 
able  to  recover;  but  with  what  facility  and  elegance  he  could 
warble  the  amorous  lay,  will  appear  from  the  following  lines 
which  he  wrote  for  his  friend  Mr.  Edmund  Hector. 

Verses  to  a  Lady,  on  receiving  from  her  a  Sprig  0/  Myrtle. 

'What  hopes,  what  terrours  does  thy  gift  create, 
Ambiguous  emblem  of  uncertain  fate  : 
The  myrtle,  ensign  of  supreme  command, 
Consign'd  by  Venus  to  Melissa's  hand ; 
Not  less  capricious  than  a  reigning  fair, 
Now  grants,  and  now  rejects  a  lover's  prayer. 
In  myrtle  shades  oft  sings  the  happy  swain, 
In  myrtle  shades  despairing  ghosts  complain ; 
The  myrtle  crowns  the  happy  lovers'  heads, 
The  unhappy  lovers'  grave  the  myrtle  spreads : 
O  then  the  meaning  of  thy  gift  impart, 
And  ease  the  throbbings  of  an  anxious  heart ! 
Soon  must  this  bough,  as  you  shall  fix  his  doom, 
Adorn  Philander's  head,  or  grace  his  tomb-.' 

'  I  suspect  that  Johnson  wrote  'the  Castle  Inn,  Birmingham.' 
*  Mrs.  Piozzi  gives  the  following  account  of  this  little  composition 
from  Dr.  Johnson's  own  relation  to  her,  on  her  inquiring  whether  it 
was  rightly  attributed  to  him  : — '  I  think  it  is  now  just  forty  years  ago, 
that  a  young  fellow  had  a  sprig  of  myrtle  given  him  by  a  girl  he 
courted,  and  asked  me  to  write  him  some  verses  that  he  might  present 
her  in  return.     I  promised,  but  forgot ;  and  when  he  called  for  his 

His 


io8  BoswelVs  controversy  witJi  Miss  Seward,  [a.d.  I7a4. 

His  juv^enile  attachments  to  the  fair  sex  were,  however, 
very  transient ;  and  it  is  certain  that  he  formed  no  criminal 

lines  at  the  time  agreed  on — Sit  still  a  moment,  (says  Y)  dear  Mund  ' 
[see  post.  May  7,  1773,  for  Johnson's  'way  of  contracting  the  names 
of  his  friends'),  'and  I'll  fetch  them  thee — So  stepped  aside  for  five 
minutes,  and  wrote  the  nonsense  you  now  keep  such  a  stir  about.' 
Afiec.  p.  34. 

In  my  first  edition  I  was  induced  to  doubt  the  authenticity  of  this 
account,  by  the  following  circumstantial  statement  in  a  letter  to  me 
from  Miss  Seward,  of  Lichfield  : — '  I  /cnoiu  those  verses  were  addressed 
to  Lucy  Porter,  when  he  was  enamoured  of  her  in  his  boyish  days, 
two  or  three  years  before  he  had  seen  her  mother,  his  future  wife.  He 
wTote  them  at  my  grandfather's,  and  gave  them  to  Lucy  in  the  pres- 
ence of  my  mother,  to  whom  he  showed  them  on  the  instant.  She 
used  to  repeat  them  to  me,  when  I  asked  her  for  t/ie  I'erst's  Dr.  John- 
son ga7>c  her  oh  a  S/>?-/if  of  Myrtle,  ivhicli  he  had  stolen  or  begi^ed  from 
her  bosom.  We  all  know  honest  Lucy  Porter  to  have  been  incapable 
of  the  mean  vanity  of  applying  to  herself  a  compliment  not  intended 
for  her.'  Such  was  this  lady's  statement,  which  I  make  no  doubt  she 
supposed  to  be  correct ;  but  it  shews  how  dangerous  it  is  to  trust  too 
implicitly  to  traditional  testimony  and  ingenious  inference;  for  Mr. 
Hector  has  lately  assured  me  that  Mrs.  Piozzi's  account  is  in  this  in- 
stance accurate,  and  that  he  was  the  person  for  whom  Johnson  wrote 
those  verses,  which  have  been  erroneously  ascribed  to  Mr.  Hammond. 

I  am  obliged  in  so  many  instances  to  notice  Mrs.  Piozzi's  incorrect- 
ness of  relation,  that  I  gladly  seize  this  opportunity  of  acknowledging, 
that  however  often,  she  is  not  always  inaccurate. 

The  author  having  been  drawn  into  a  controversy  with  Miss  Anna 
Seward,  in  consequence  of  the  preceding  statement,  (which  may  be 
found  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  vol.  liii.  and  liv.)  received  the  following  letter 
from  Mr.  Edmund  Hector,  on  the  subject : 

'  Dear  Sir, 

'  I  am  sorry  to  see  you  are  engaged  in  altercation  with  a  Lady, 
who  seems  unwilling  to  be  convinced  of  her  errors.  Surely  it  would 
be  more  ingenuous  to  acknowledge,  than  to  persevere. 

'  Lately,  in  looking  over  some  papers  I  meant  to  burn,  I  found  the 
original  manuscript  of  the  J/j'r//^,  with  the  date  on  it,  1731,  which  I 
have  inclosed. 

'The  true  history  (which  I  could  swear  to)  is  as  follows:  Mr.  Mor- 
gan Graves,  the  elder  brother  of  a  worthy  Clergyman  near  Bath,  with 
whom  I  was  acquainted,  waited  upon  a  lady  in  this  neighbourhood, 
who  at  parting  presented  him  the  branch.  He  shewed  it  to  me,  and 
wished  much  to  return  the  compliment  in  verse.     I  applied  to  John- 

connection 


Aetat.25.]       yohnson  s  personal  appearance.  109 

connection  whatsoever.  Mr.  Hector,  who  Hved  with  him  in 
his  younger  days  in  the  utmost  intimacy  and  social  freedom, 
has  assured  me,  that  even  at  that  ardent  season  his  conduct 
was  strictly  virtuous  in  that  respect' ;  and  that  though  he 
loved  to  exhilarate  himself  with  wine,  he  never  knew  him 
intoxicated  but  once'. 

In  a  man  whom  religious  education  has  secured  from 
licentious  indulgences,  the  passion  of  love,  when  once  it 
has  seized  him,  is  exceedingly  strong;  being  unimpaired  by 
dissipation,  and  totally  concentrated  in  one  object.  This 
was  experienced  by  Johnson,  when  he  became  the  fervent 
admirer  of  Mrs.  Porter,  after  her  first  husband's  death".  Miss 
Porter  told  me,  that  when  he  was  first  introduced  to  her 
mother,  his  appearance  was  very  forbidding :  he  was  then 
lean  and  lank,  so  that  his  immense  structure  of  bones  was 
hideously  striking  to  the  eye,  and  the  scars  of  the  scrophula 

son,  who  was  with  me.  and  in  about  half  an  hour  dictated  the  verses 
which  I  sent  to  my  friend. 

'  I  most  solemnly  declare,  at  that  time  Johnson  was  an  entire  stran- 
ger to  the  Porter  family;  and  it  was  almost  two  years  after  that  I 
introduced  him  to  the  acquaintance  of  Porter,  whom  I  bought  my 
cloaths  of. 

'  If  you  intend  to  convince  this  obstinate  woman,  and  to  exhibit  to 
the  publick  the  truth  of  your  narrative,  you  are  at  liberty  to  make 
what  use  you  please  of  this  statement. 

'  I  hope  you  will  pardon  me  for  taking  up  so  much  of  your  time. 
Wishing  you  multos  et  felices  annos,  I  shall  subscribe  myself, 

'  Your  obliged  humble  servant, 

'E.  HECTOR.' 

Birmingham,  Jan.  9th.  1794. 

BoswELL.  For  a  further  account  of  Boswell's  controversy  with 
Miss  Seward,  ?,^e.  post,  June  25,  1784. 

'  See  pos/,  beginning  of  1744,  April  28,  1783,  and  under  Dec.  2,  1784. 

'  See  post,  near  end  of  1763,  note. 

'  In  the  registry  of  St.  Martin's  Church,  Birmingham,  are  the  fol- 
lowing entries: — 'Baptisms,  Nov.  8,  171 5,  Lucy,  daughter  of  Henrys 
Porter.  Jan.  29,  1717  [O.  S.],  Jarvis  Henr)%  son  of  Henn,^  Porter. 
Burials,  Aug.  3,  1734,  Henry  Porter  of  Edgbaston.'  There  were  two 
sons;  one, Captain  Porter,  who  died  in  1763  (Croker's  Bosivcll,  p.  130), 
the  other  who  died  in  1783  {post,  Nov.  29,  1783). 

were 


I  lo  Mrs.  Porter.  [a. d.  1735. 

were  deeply  visible'.  He  also  wore  his  hair\  which  was 
straight  and  stiff,  and  separated  behind :  and  he  often  had. 
seemingly,  convulsive  starts  and  odd  gesticulations,  which 
tended  to  excite  at  once  surprize  and  ridicule'.  Mrs.  Por- 
ter was  so  much  engaged  by  his  conversation  that  she  over- 
looked all  these  external  disadvantages,  and  said  to  her 
daughter,  'this  is  the  most  sensible  man  that  I  ever  saw  in 
my  life.' 

Though  Mrs.  Porter  was  double  the  age  of  Johnson',  and 
her  person  and  manner,  as  described  to  me  by  the  late  Mr. 
Garrick,  were  by  no  means  pleasing  to  others,  she  must  have 
had  a  superiority  of  understanding  and  talents,  as  she  cer- 
tainly inspired  him  with  a  more  than  ordinary  passion  ;  and 
she  having  signified  her  willingness  to  accept  of  his  hand, 

'  According  to  Malone,  Reynolds  said  that  '  he  had  paid  attention 
to  Johnson's  Hmbs;  and  far  from  being  unsightly,  he  deemed  them 
well  formed.'  Prior's  Malotie,  p.  175.  Mrs.  Piozzi  says: — '  His  stature 
was  remarkably  high,  and  his  limbs  exceedingly  large;  his  features 
were  strongly  marked,  and  his  countenance  particularly  rugged ; 
though  the  original  complexion  had  certainly  been  fair,  a  circumstance 
somewhat  unusual ;  his  sight  was  near,  and  otherwise  imperfect ;  yet 
his  eyes,  though  of  a  light-grey  colour,  were  so  wild,  so  piercing,  and 
at  times  so  fierce,  that  fear  was,  I  believe,  the  first  emotion  in  the 
hearts  of  all  his  beholders.'  Piozzi's  Ancc.  p.  297.  See  post,  end  of 
the  book,  and  Boswell's  tichridcs,  near  the  beginning. 

'  If  Johnson  wore  his  own  hair  at  Oxford,  it  must  have  exposed  him 
to  ridicule.  Graves,  the  author  of  The  Spiritual  Quixote,  tells  us  that 
Shenstone  had  the  courage  to  wear  his  own  hair,  though  '  it  often  ex- 
posed him  to  the  ill-natured  remarks  of  people  who  had  not  half  his 
sense.  After  I  was  elected  at  All  Souls,  where  there  was  often  a  party 
of  loungers  in  the  gateway,  on  my  expostulating  with  Mr.  Shenstone 
for  not  visiting  me  so  often  as  usual,  he  said,  "  he  was  ashamed  to  face 
his  enemies  in  the  gate."  ' 

'  See/f^j/,  1739. 

*  Mrs.  Johnson  was  born  on  Feb.  4,  1688-9.  Malone.  She  was 
married  on  July  9,  1735,  in  St.  Werburgh's  Church,  Derby,  as  is  shewn 
by  the  following  copy  of  the  marriage  register:  '  1735,  July  9,  Mard 
Samil  Johnson  of  ye  parish  of  S'  Mary's  in  Litchfield,  and  Elizth  Porter 
of  ye  parish  of  S'  Phillip  in  Burmingham.'  Xotes  and  Queries,  4th  S. 
vi.  44.  At  the  time  of  their  marriage,  therefore,  she  was  forty-six,  and 
Johnson  only  two  months  short  of  twenty-six. 

he 


Aetat.  s.';.]  yohnsons  77iarriage.  1 1 1 

he  went  to  Lichfield  to  ask  his  mother's  consent  to  the 
marriage,  which  he  could  not  but  be  conscious  was  a  very 
imprudent  scheme,  both  on  account  of  their  disparity  of 
years,  and  her  want  of  fortune'.  But  Mrs.  Johnson  knew 
too  well  the  ardour  of  her  son's  temper,  and  was  too  tender 
a  parent  to  oppose  his  inclinations. 

1  know  not  for  what  reason  the  marriage  ceremony  was 
not  performed  at  Birmingham  ;  but  a  resolution  was  taken 
that  it  should  be  at  Derby,  for  which  place  the  bride  and 
bridegroom  set  out  on  horseback,  I  suppose  in  ver}-  good 
humour.  But  though  Mr.  Topham  Beauclerk  used  archly  to 
mention  Johnson's  having  told  him,  with  much  gravit)',  'Sir, 
it  was  a  love  marriage  on  both  sides,'  I  have  had  from  my 

'  The  author  of  the  Metnoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Dr.  John- 
son, 1785,  p.  25,  says  : — '  Mrs.  Porter's  husband  died  insolvent,  but  her 
settlement  was  secured.  She  brought  her  second  husband  about  sev- 
en or  eight  hundred  pounds,  a  great  part  of  which  was  expended  in 
fitting  up  a  house  for  a  boarding-school.'  That  she  had  some  money 
can  be  almost  inferred  from  what  we  are  told  by  Boswell  and  Haw- 
kins. How  otherwise  was  Johnson  able  to  hire  and  furnish  a  large 
house  for  his  school  ?  Boswell  says  that  he  had  but  three  pupils. 
Hawkins  gives  him  a  few  more.  '  His  number,'  he  writes  (p.  36)  'at 
no  time  exceeded  eight,  and  of  those  not  all  were  boarders.'  After 
nearly  twenty  months  of  married  life,  when  he  went  to  London,  '  he 
had,'  Boswell  says,  'a  little  money.'  It  was  not  till  a  year  later  still 
that  he  began  to  write  for  the  Ge7it.  Mag.  If  Mrs.  Johnson  had  not 
money,  how  did  she  and  her  husband  live  from  July  1735  to  the  spring 
of  1738.?  It  could  scarcely  have  been  on  the  profits  made  from  their 
school.  Inference,  however,  is  no  longer  needful,  as  there  is  positive 
evidence.  Mr.  Timmins  in  his  Dr.  Johnson  in  BirviiiigJiam  (p.  4) 
writes:  —  'My  friend,  Mr.  Joseph  Hill,  says,  A  copy  of  an  old  deed 
which  has  recently  come  mto  my  hands,  shews  that  a  hundred  pounds 
of  Mrs.  Johnson's  fortune  was  left  in  the  hands  of  a  Birmingham  at- 
torney named  Thomas  Perks,  who  died  insolvent;  and  in  1745,  a  bulky 
deed  gave  his  creditors  is.^d.  in  the  pound.  Among  the  creditors  for 
;^ioo  were  "Samuel  Johnson,  gent.,  and  Elizabeth  his  wife,  executors 
of  the  last  will  and  testament  of  Wzxry  Porter,  late  of  Birmingham 
aforesaid,  woollen  draper,  deceased."  Johnson  and  his  wife  were  al- 
most the  only  creditors  who  did  not  sign  the  deed,  their  seals  being 
left  void.  It  is  doubtful,  therefore,  whether  they  ever  obtained  the 
amount  of  the  composition  ^^36  13^-.  4^.' 

illustrious 


1 1 2  His  school  at  Edial.  [a.d.  i736. 

illustrious  friend  the  following  curious  account  of  their  jour- 
ney to  church  upon  the  nuptial  morn  : 

9M  July  : — '  Sir,  she  had  read  the  old  romances,  and  had  got 
into  her  head  the  fantastical  notion  that  a  woman  of  spirit  should 
use  her  lover  like  a  dog.  So,  Sir,  at  first  she  told  me  that  I  rode 
too  fast,  and  she  could  not  keep  up  with  me ;  and,  when  I  rode  a 
little  slower,  she  passed  me,  and  complained  that  I  lagged  behind. 
I  was  not  to  be  made  the  slave  of  caprice  ;  and  I  resolved  to  begin 
as  1  meant  to  end.  1  therefore  pushed  on  briskly,  till  1  was  fairly 
out  of  her  sight.  The  road  lay  between  two  hedges,  so  1  was  sure 
she  could  not  miss  it ;  and  I  contrived  that  she  should  soon  come 
up  with  me.     When  she  did,  I  observed  her  to  be  in  tears,' 

This,  it  must  be  allowed,  was  a  singular  beginning  of  con- 
nubial felicity  ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  Johnson,  though 
he  thus  shewed  a  manly  firmness,  proved  a  most  affectionate 
and  indulgent  husband  to  the  last  moment  of  Mrs.  John- 
son's life :  and  in  his  Prayers  and  Meditations,  we  find  very 
remarkable  evidence  that  his  regard  and  fondness  for  her 
never  ceased,  even  after  her  death. 

He  now  set  up  a  private  academy',  for  which  purpose  he 
hired  a  large  house,  well  situated  near  his  native  city.  In 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1736,  there  is  the  following 
advertisement : 

'  At  Edial,  near  Lichfield "',  in  Staffordshire,  young  gentlemen 
are  boarded  and  taught  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages,  by  Sam- 
uel Johnson.' 

But  the  only  pupils  that  were  put  under  his  care  were  the 
celebrated  David  Garrick  and  his  brother  George,  and  a 
Mr.  Offely,  a  young  gentleman  of  good  fortune  who  died 
early.  As  yet,  his  name  had  nothing  of  that  celebrity  which 
afterwards  commanded  the  highest  attention  and  respect  of 
mankind.      Had  such  an  advertisement  appeared  after  the 

'  Sir  Walter  Scott  has  recorded  Lord  Auchinleck's  '  sneer  of  most 
sovereign  contempt,' while  he  described  Johnson  as  'a  dominie,  mon 
— an  auld  dominie ;  he  keeped  a  schfile,  and  cau'd  it  an  acaadamy. 
Croker's  Boswell,  p.  397,  note. 

* '  Edial  is  two  miles  west  of  Lichfield.'    Harwood's  Lichfield,  p.  56^, 

publication 


Aetat.  27.]  yohusoii  as  a  teacher.  113 

publication  of  his  London,  or  his  Rambler,  or  his  Dictionary^ 
howwould  it  have  burst  upon  the  world  !  with  what  eagerness 
would  the  great  and  the  wealthy  have  embraced  an  oppor- 
tunity of  putting  their  sons  under  the  learned  tuition  of 
Samuel  Johnson.  The  truth,  however,  is,  that  he  was 
not  so  well  qualified  for  being  a  teacher  of  elements,  and  a 
conductor  in  learning  by  regular  gradations,  as  men  of  infe- 
riour  powers  of  mind.  His  own  acquisitions  had  been  made 
by  fits  and  starts,  by  violent  irruptions  into  the  regions  of 
knowledge  ;  and  it  could  not  be  expected  that  his  impa- 
tience would  be  subdued,  and  his  impetuosity  restrained, 
so  as  to  fit  him  for  a  quiet  guide  to  novices.  The  art  of 
communicating  instruction,  of  whatever  kind,  is  much  to  be 
valued ;  and  I  have  ever  thought  that  those  who  devote 
themselves  to  this  employment,  and  do  their  duty  with 
diligence  and  success,  are  entitled  to  very  high  respect  from 
the  community,  as  Johnson  himself  often  maintained'. 
Yet  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  greatest  abilities  are  not 
only  not  required  for  this  oflfice,  but  render  a  man  less  fit 
for  it. 


'  Johnson  in  more  than  one  passage  in  his  writings  seems  to  have 
in  mind  his  own  days  as  a  schoolmaster.  Thus  in  the  Life  of  Milton 
he  says  : — '  This  is  the  period  of  his  Hfe  from  which  all  his  biographers 
seem  inclmed  to  shrink.  They  are  unwilling  that  Milton  should  be 
degraded  to  a  schoolmaster ;  but,  since  it  cannot  be  denied  that  he 
taught  boys,  one  finds  out  that  he  taught  for  nothing,  and  another 
that  his  motive  was  only  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  learning  and 
virtue ;  and  all  tell  what  they  do  not  know  to  be  true,  only  to  excuse 
an  act  which  no  wise  man  will  consider  as  in  itself  disgraceful.  His 
father  was  alive;  his  allowance  was  not  ample;  and  he  supplied  its 
deficiencies  by  an  honest  and  useful  employment.'  Johnson's  Works, 
vii.  75.  In  the  Life  of  Blackmorc  he  says : — '  In  some  part  of  his  life, 
it  is  not  known  when,  his  indigence  compelled  him  to  teach  a  school, 
an  humiliation  with  which,  though  it  certainly  lasted  but  a  little  while, 
his  enemies  did  not  forget  to  reproach  him,  when  he  became  conspic- 
uous enough  to  excite  malevolence ;  and  let  it  be  remembered  for  his 
honour,  that  to  have  been  once  a  schoolmaster  is  the  only  reproach 
which  all  the  perspicacity  of  malice,  animated  by  wit,  has  ever  fixed 
upon  his  private  life.'    Johnson's  Works,  viii.  36. 

I.— 8  While 


114  Mrs.  yohnson.  [a.d.  1736- 

While  we  acknowledge  the  justness  of  Thomson's  beauti- 
ful remark, 

'  Delightful  task  !  to  rear  the  tender  thought, 
And  teach'  the  young  idea  how  to  shoot!' 

we  must  consider  that  this  delight  is  perceptible  only  by 
'a  mind  at  ease,'  a  mind  at  once  calm  and  clear;  but  that 
a  mind  gloomy  and  impetuous  like  that  of  Johnson,  cannot 
be  fixed  for  any  length  of  time  in  minute  attention,  and 
must  be  so  frequently  irritated  by  unavoidable  slowness  and 
errour  in  the  advances  of  scholars,  as  to  perform  the  duty, 
with  little  pleasure  to  the  teacher,  and  no  great  advantage 
to  the  pup^ls^  Good  temper  is  a  most  essential  requisite  in 
a  Preceptor.     Horace  paints  the  character  as  bland . ■ 

''....  Ut  pueris  ohm  dant  crustula  blandi 
Doctores,  elemaita  velint  ut  discere  prima '. ' 

Johnson  was  not  more  satisfied  with  his  situation  as  the 
master  of  an  academy,  than  with  that  of  the  usher  of  a 
school ;  we  need  not  wonder,  therefore,  that  he  did  not  keep 
his  academy  above  a  year  and  a  half.  From  Mr.  Garrick's 
account  he  did  not  appear  to  have  been  profoundly  rever- 
enced by  his  pupils.  His  oddities  of  manner,  and  uncouth 
gesticulations,  could  not  but  be  the  subject  of  merriment  to 
them  ;  and,  in  particular,  the  young  rogues  used  to  listen 
at  the  door  of  his  bed-chamber,  and  peep  through  the  key- 
hole, that  they  might  turn  into  ridicule  his  tumultuous 
and  awkward  fondness  for  Mrs.  Johnson,  whom  he  used  to 
name  by  the  familiar  appellation  of  Tetty  or  Tetsey,  which, 

*  In  the  original  To  Teach.  Seasons,  Spring,  1.  1149.  Thomson  is 
speaking,  not  of  masters,  but  of  parents. 

*  In  the  Lzfe  of  Milton,  Johnson  records  his  own  experience. 
'  Every  man  that  has  ever  undertaken  to  instruct  others  can  tell 
what  slow  advances  he  has  been  able  to  make,  and  how  much 
patience  it  requires  to  recall  vagrant  inattention,  to  stimulate  slug- 
gish indifference,  and  to  rectify  absurd  misapprehension.'  Johnson's 
Works,  vii.  76. 

'  '  As  masters  fondly  soothe  their  boys  to  read 

With  cakes  and  sweetmeats.' 

Francis,  Hor.  i.  Sat.  t.  25. 
like 


Aetat.  27.]  A  scheme  of  study.  115 

like  Betty  or  Betsey,  is  provincially  used  as  a  contraction  for 
Elisabeth,  her  christian  name,  but  which  to  us  seems  ludicrous 
when  applied  to  a  woman  of  her  age  and  appearance.  Mr. 
Garrick  described  her  to  me  as  very  fat,  with  a  bosom  of 
more  than  ordinary  protuberance,  with  .swelled  cheeks  of  a 
florid  red,  produced  by  thick  painting,  and  increased  by  the 
liberal  use  of  cordials ;  flaring  and  fantastick  in  her  dress, 
and  affected  both  in  her  speech  and  her  general  behaviour. 
I  have  seen  Garrick  exhibit  her,  by  his  exquisite  talent  of 
mimickry,  so  as  to  excite  the  heartiest  bursts  of  laughter; 
but  he,  probably,  as  is  the  case  in  all  such  representations, 
considerably  aggravated  the  picture'. 

That  Johnson  well  knew  the  most  proper  course  to  be 
pursued  in  the  instruction  of  youth,  is  authentically  ascer- 
tained b}'  the  following  paper''  in  his  own  hand -writing, 
given  about  this  period  to  a  relation,  and  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  Mr.  John  Nichols: 

*  Scheme  for  the  Classes  of  a  Grammar  School. 

'  When  the  introduction,  or  formation  of  nouns  and  verbs,  is 
perfectly  mastered,  let  them  learn 

'  Corderius  by  Mr.  Clarke,  beginning  at  the  same  time  to  trans- 
late out  of  the  introduction,  that  by  this  means  they  may  learn  the 
syntax.     Then  let  them  proceed  to 

'  Erasmus,  with  an  English  translation,  by  the  same  authour. 

»  As  Johnson  kept  Garrick  much  in  awe  when  present,  David,  when 
his  back  was  turned,  repaid  the  restraint  with  ridicule  of  him  and  his 
dulcinea,  which  should  be  read  with  great  abatement.  Percy.  He 
was  not  consistent  in  his  account,  for  '  he  told  Mrs.  Thrale  that  she 
was  a  little  pahited  puppet  of  no  value  at  all.'  .  .  .  'He  made  out,' 
Mrs.  Piozzi  continues,  '  some  comical  scenes,  by  mimicking  her  in  a 
dialogue  he  pretended  to  have  overheard.  I  do  not  know  whether  he 
meant  such  stuff  to  be  believed  or  no,  it  was  so  comical.  The  picture 
I  found  of  her  at  Lichfield  was  very  pretty,  and  her  daughter  said  it 
was  like.  Mr.  Johnson  has  told  me  that  her  hair  was  eminently  beau- 
tiful, quite  blonde  like  that  of  a  baby.'     Piozzi's  Anec.  p.  148. 

'  Mr.  Croker  points  out  that  in  this  paper  '  there  are  two  separate 
schemes,  the  first  for  a  school — the  second  for  the  individual  studies 
of  some  young  friend.' 

'Class 


Ii6  A  scheme  of  sttidy.  [a.d.  1736. 

'Class  II.  Learns  Eiitiopius  and  Cornelius  Nepos,  or  Justin, 
with  the  translation. 

'  N.B.  The  first  class  gets  for  their  part  every  morning  the  rules 
which  they  have  learned  before,  and  in  the  afternoon  learns  the 
Latin  rules  of  the  nouns  and  verbs. 

'  They  are  examined  in  the  rules  which  they  have  learned  every 
Thursday  and  Saturday. 

'The  second  class  does  the  same  whilst  they  are  in  Eutropius  ; 
afterwards  their  part  is  in  the  irregular  nouns  and  verbs,  and  in 
the  rules  for  making  and  scanning  verses.  They  are  examined  as 
the  first. 

'Class  III.  Ovid's  Metamorphoses  in  the  morning,  and  Caesar's 
Commentaries  in  the  afternoon. 

'  Practise  in  the  Latin  rules  till  they  are  perfect  in  them  ;  after- 
wards in  Mr.  Leeds's  Greek  Grammar.     Examined  as  before. 

'  Afterwards  they  proceed  to  Virgil,  beginning  at  the  same  time 
to  write  themes  and  verses,  and  to  learn  Greek  ;  from  thence  pass- 
ing on  to  Horace,  <S:c.  as  shall  seem  most  proper. 

'  I  know  not  well  what  books  to  direct  you  to,  because  you  have 
not  informed  me  what  study  you  will  apply  yourself  to.  I  believe 
it  will  be  most  for  your  advantage  to  apply  yourself  wholly  to  the 
languages,  till  you  go  to  the  University.  The  Greek  authours  I 
think  it  best  for  you  to  read  are  these  : 

'  Cebes. 

'  ^lian.  \ 

'  Lucian  by  Leeds.  v  Attick. 

'  Xenophon.  ) 

'  Homer.  lonick. 

'  Theocritus.  Dorick. 

'  Euripides.  Attick  and  Dorick. 

*  Thus  you  will  be  tolerably  skilled  in  all  the  dialects,  beginning 
with  the  Attick,  to  which  the  rest  must  be  referred. 

'  In  the  study  of  Latin,  it  is  proper  not  to  rea,d  the  latter  au- 
thours, till  you  are  well  versed  in  those  of  the  purest  ages ;  as 
Terence,  Tully,  Ccesar,  Sallust,  Nepos,  Velleius  Paterculus,  Virgil, 
Horace,  Phaedrus. 

'  The  greatest  and  most  necessary  task  still  remains,  to  attain  a 
habit  of  expression,  without  which  knowledge  is  of  little  use.  This 
is  necessary  in  Latin,  and  more  necessary  in  English ;  and  can 
only  be  acquired  by  a  daily  imitation  of  the  best  and  correctest 
authours. 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

While 


Aetat.  27.]    yohisou  tries  his  fortune  in  London.       1 1 7 


While  Johnson  kept  his  academy,  there  can  be  no  doubt 

that  he  was  insensibly  furnishing  his  mind  with  various 
knowledge ;  but  I  have  not  discovered  that  he  wrote  any 
thing  except  a  great  part  of  his  tragedy  of  Iroie.  Mr.  Peter 
Garrick,  the  elder  brother  of  David,  told  me  that  he  remem- 
bered Johnson's  borrowing  the  Turkish  History'  of  him,  in 
order  to  form  his  play  from  it.  When  he  had  finished  some 
part  of  it,  he  read  what  he  had  done  to  Mr.  Walmsley,  who 
objected  to  his  having  already  brought  his  heroine  into  great 
distress,  and  asked  him,  '  how  can  you  possibly  contrive  to 
plunge  her  into  deeper  calamity?'  Johnson,  in  sly  allusion 
to  the  supposed  oppressive  proceedings  of  the  court  of  which 
Mr.  Walmsley  was  register,  replied,  '  Sir,  I  can  put  her  into 
the  Spiritual  Court!' 

Mr.  Walmsley,  however,  was  well  pleased  with  this  proof 
of  Johnson's  abilities  as  a  dramatick  writer,  and  advised  him 
to  finish  the  tragedy,  and  produce  it  on  the  stage. 

Johnson  now  thought  of  trying  his  fortune  in  London,  the 
great  field  of  genius  and  exertion,  where  talents  of  every  kind 
have  the  fullest  scope,  and  the  highest  encouragement.  It  is 
a  memorable  circumstance  that  his  pupil  David  Garrick  went 
thither  at  the  same  time'\  with  intention  to  complete  his  ed- 
ucation, and  follow  the  profession  of  the  law,  from  which 
he  was  soon  diverted  by  his  decided  preference  for  the  stage. 

'  In  the  Rambler,  No.  122,  Johnson,  after  stating  that  '  it  is  observed 
that  our  nation  has  been  hitherto  remarkably  barren  of  historical 
genius,'  praises  Knolles,  who,  he  says,  '  in  his  History  of  tJie  Turks,  has 
displayed  all  the  excellencies  that  narration  can  admit.' 

-  Both  of  them  used  to  talk  pleasantly  of  this  their  first  journey  to 
London.  Garrick,  evidently  meaning  to  embellish  a  little,  said  one 
day  in  my  hearing,  '  we  rode  and  tied.'  And  the  Bishop  of  Killaloe 
informed  me,  that  at  another  time,  when  Johnson  and  Garrick  were 
dining  together  in  a  pretty  large  company,  Johnson  humorously  as- 
certaining the  chronology  of  something,  expressed  himself  thus  :  '  that 
was  the  year  when  I  came  to  London  with  two-pence  half-penny  in 
my  pocket.'  Garrick  overhearing  him,  exclaimed,  '  eh  ?  what  do  you 
say.'  with  two-pence  half-penny  in  your  pocket.'"' — Johnson,  '  Why 
yes ;  when  I  came  with  two-pence  half-penny  in  my  pocket,  and  thou, 
Davy,  with  three  half-pence  in  thine.'     Boswell. 

This 


ii8  Mr.  Walmsleys  Letter.  [a.d.  1737. 


This  joint  expedition  of  those  two  eminent  men  to  the 
metropoh's,  was  many  years  afterwards  noticed  in  an  alle- 
gorical  poem  on  Shakspeare's  Mulberry  Tree,  by  Mr.  Lovi- 
bond,  the  ingenious  authour  of  The  Tears  of  Old-May-day\ 

They  were  recommended  to  Mr.  Colson\  an  eminent 
mathematician  and  master  of  an  academy,  by  the  following 
letter  from  Mr.  Walmsley  : 

*To  THE  Reverend  Mr.  Colson. 

'  Lichfield,  March  2,  1737. 

•Dear  Sir, 

'  I  had  the  favour  of  yours,  and  am  extremely  obliged  to  you ; 
but  I  cannot  say  I  had  a  greater  nfifection  for  you  upon  it  than  I 
had  before,  being  long  since  so  much  endeared  to  you,  as  well 
by  an  early  friendship,  as  by  your  many  excellent  and  valuable 
qualifications  ;  and,  had  I  a  son  of  my  own,  it  would  be  my  am- 
bition, instead  of  sending  him  to  the  University,  to  dispose  of  him 
as  this  young  gentleman  is. 

'  He,  and  another  neighbour  of  mine,  one  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson, 
set  out  this  morning  for  London  together.  Davy  Garrick  is  to  be 
with  you  early  the  next  week,  and  Mr.  Johnson  to  try  his  fate  with 
a  tragedy,  and  to  see  to  get  hiinself  employed  in  some  translation, 
either  from  the  Latin  or  the  French.  Johnson  is  a  very  good 
scholar  and  poet,  and  I  have  great  hopes  will  turn  out  a  fine  trag- 
edy-writer. If  it  should  any  way  lie  in  your  way,  doubt  ^  not  but 
you  would  be  ready  to  recommend  and  assist  your  countryman. 

'  G.  Walmsley.' 

How  he  employed  himself  upon  his  first  coming  to  Lon- 
don  is   not    particularly  known".      I    never   heard    that  he 

'  See  Gent.  Mag.  xxiv.  333. 

*  Mr.  Colson  was  First  Master  of  the  Free  School  at  Rochester.  In 
1739  he  was  appointed  Lucasian  Professor  of  Mathematics  at  Cam- 
bridge. Ma  LONE.  Mrs.  Piozzi  {Anec.  p.  49)  says  that  '  by  Gelidus  the 
philosopher  {Rambler,  No.  24),  Johnson  meant  to  represent  Colson.' 

'  This  letter  is  printed  in  the  Garrick  Corres.  i.  2.  There  we  read  / 
doubt  not. 

*  One  curious  anecdote  was  communicated  by  himself  to  Mr.  John 
Nichols.  Mr.  Wilcox,  the  bookseller,  on  being  informed  by  him  that 
his  intention  was  to  get  his  livelihood  as  an  authour,  eyed  his  robust 
frame  attentively,  and  with  a  significant  look,  said,  'You  had  better 
buy  a  porter's  knot.'    He  however  added, '  Wilcox  was  one  of  my  best 

found 


Aetat.  28.J  Life    171    LouduU.  I  I  9 

found  any  protection  or  encouragement  by  the  means  of 
Mr.  Colson,  to  whose  academy  David  Garrick  went.  Mrs. 
Lucy  Porter  told  me,  that  Mr.  Walmsley  gave  him  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  Lintot'  his  bookseller,  and  that  Johnson 
wrote  some  things  for  him ;  but  I  imagine  this  to  be  a  mis- 
take, for  I  have  discovered  no  trace  of  it,  and  I  am  pretty 
sure  he  told  me  that  Mr.  Cave  was  the  first  publisher  by 
whom  his  pen  was  engaged  in  London. 

He  had  a  little  money  when  he  came  to  town,  and  he 
knew  how  he  could  live  in  the  cheapest  manner.  His  first 
lodgings  were  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Norris,  a  staymaker,  in 
Exeter-street,  adjoining  Catharine-street,  in  the  Strand.  '  I 
dined  (said  he)  very  well  for  eight -pence,  with  very  good 
company,  at  the  Pine  Apple  in  New-street,  just  by.     Several 

friends.'  Boswell.  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  43)  states  that  Johnson  and 
Garrick  had  soon  exhausted  their  small  stock  of  money  in  London, 
and  that  on  Garrick's  suggestion  they  applied  for  a  loan  to  Wilcox,  of 
whom  he  had  a  slight  knowledge.  '  Representing  themselves  to  him, 
as  they  really  were,  two  young  men,  friends  and  travellers  from  the 
same  place,  and  just  arrived  with  a  view  to  settle  here,  he  was  so 
moved  with  their  artless  tale,  that  on  their  joint  note  he  advanced 
them  all  that  their  modesty  would  permit  them  to  ask  (five  pounds), 
which  was  soon  after  punctually  repaid.'  Perhaps  Johnson  was  think- 
ing of  himself  when  he  recorded  the  advice  given  by  Gibber  to  Fen- 
ton,  '  When  the  tragedy  of  Mariamne  was  shewn  to  Gibber,  it  was 
rejected  by  him,  with  the  additional  insolence  of  advising  Fenton  to 
engage  himself  in  some  employment  of  honest  labour,  by  which  he 
might  obtain  that  support  which  he  could  never  hope  from  his  poetry. 
The  play  was  acted  at  the  other  theatre ;  and  the  brutal  petulance  of 
Gibber  was  confuted,  though  perhaps  not  shamed,  by  general  ap- 
plause.' Johnson's  Works,  viii.  56.  Adam  Smith  in  the  Wealth  of 
Nations  (Book  i.  ch.  2)  says  that  '  the  difference  between  the  most  dis- 
similar characters,  between  a  philosopher  and  a  common  street-porter, 
for  example,  seems  to  arise  not  so  much  from  nature,  as  from  habit, 
custom,  and  education.'  Wilcox's  shop  was  in  Little  Britain.  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  in  1725,  lodged  next  door  to  him.  '  He  had.'  says 
Franklin  {Memoirs,  '\.  6\'),  'an  immense  collection  of  second-hand 
books.  Circulating  libraries  were  not  then  in  use  ;  but  we  agreed  that 
on  certain  reasonable  terms  I  might  read  any  of  his  books.' 

>  Bernard  Lintot  {post,  July  19.  1763)  died  Feb.  3,  1736.  Gent.  Mag. 
vi.  1 10.     This,  no  doubt,  was  his  son. 

of 


120  Abstinence  from  zvine.  [a.d.  1737. 

of  them  had  travelled.  They  expected  to  meet  every  day ; 
but  did  not  know  one  another's  names.  It  used  to  cost  the 
rest  a  shilling,  for  they  drank  wine  ;  but  I  had  a  cut  of  meat 
for  six-pence,  and  bread  for  a  penny,  and  gave  the  waiter  a 
penny ;  so  that  I  was  quite  well  served,  nay,  better  than  the 
rest,  for  they  gave  the  waiter  nothing'.' 

He  at  this  time,  I  believe,  abstained  entirely  from  fer- 
mented liquors :  a  practice  to  which  he  rigidly  conformed 
for  many  years  together,  at  different  periods  of  his  life'. 

'  Dr.  A.  Carlyle  {Auto.  p.  195)  says  that  being  in  London  in  1746  he 
dined  frequently  with  a  club  of  officers,  where  they  had  an  excellent 
dinner  at  ten-pence.  From  what  he  adds  it  is  clear  that  the  tavern- 
keeper  made  his  profit  on  the  wine.  At  Edinburgh,  four  years  earlier, 
he  and  his  fellow-students  used  to  get  '  at  four-pence  a-head  a  very 
good  dinner  of  broth  and  beef,  and  a  roast  and  potatoes  ever}-'  day, 
with  fish  three  or  four  times  a-week,  and  all  the  small  beer  that  was 
called  for  till  the  cloth  was  removed  '  {tb.  p.  63).  W.  Hutton,  who  in 
1750  opened  a  very  small  book-shop  in  Birmingham,  for  which  he  paid 
rent  at  a  shilling  a  week,  says  {Life  of  Hut/on,  p.  84) : — '  Five  shillings 
a  week  covered  every  expense ;  as  food,  rent,  washing,  lodging,  &c.' 
He  knew  how  to  live  wretchedly. 

'  On  April  17,  1778.  Johnson  said  : — '  Early  in  life  I  drank  wine;  for 
many  years  I  drank  none.  I  then  for  some  years  drank  a  great  deal. 
I  then  had  a  severe  illness,  and  left  it  off,  and  I  have  never  begun  it 
again.'  Somewhat  the  same  account  is  given  in  Boswell's  Hebrides, 
Sept.  16,  1773.  Roughly  speaking,  he  seems  to  have  been  an  abstainer 
from  about  1736  to  at  least  as  late  as  1757,  and  from  about  1765  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  In  1751  Hawkins  {Life.  p.  286)  describes  him  as  drink- 
ing only  lemonade  '  in  a  whole  night  spent  in  festivity  '  at  the  Ivy 
Lane  Club.  In  1757  he  described  himself  'as  a  hardened  and  shame- 
less tea-drinker,  who  has  for  twenty  years  diluted  his  meals  with  only 
tea'  (Johnson's  Works,  vi.  21).  It  was,  I  believe  in  his  visit  to  Oxford 
in  1759  that  '  University  College  witnessed  his  drinking  three  bottles 
of  port  without  being  the  worse  for  it"  {posf,  April  7,  1778).  When 
he  was  living  in  the  Temple  (between  1760-65)  he  had  the  frisk  with 
Langton  and  Beauclerk  when  they  made  a  bowl  of  Bishop  {post, 
1753)-  On  his  birthday  in  1760,  he  'resolved  to  drink  less  strong 
liquors  '  {Pr.  and  Med.  p.  42).  In  1762  on  his  visit  to  Devonshire  he 
drank  three  bottles  of  wine  after  supper.  This  was  the  only  time 
Reynolds  had  seen  him  intoxicated.  (Northcote's  Rcy7iolds,  ii.  161^. 
In  1763  he  affected  Boswell's  nerves  by  keeping  him  up  late  to  drink 
port  with  him  {post,]u\y  14,  1763).     On  April  21,  1764,  he  records: — 

His 


Aetat.28.]  An  Irish  Ofellus.  121 

His  Ofellus  in  the  Art  of  Living  in  London,  I  have  heard 
him  relate,  was  an  Irish  painter,  whom  he  knew  at  Birmingham, 

'  From  the  beginning  of  this  year  I  have  in  some  measure  forborne 
excess  of  strong  drink'  {Pr.  and  Med.  p.  51).  On  Easter  Sunday  he 
records  :  '  Avoided  wine  '  (ib.  p.  55).  On  March  i,  1765,  he  is  described 
at  Cambridge  as  '  giving  Mrs.  Macaulay  for  his  toast,  and  drinking  her 
m  two  bumpers."  It  was  about  this  time  that  he  had  the  severe  ill- 
ness Impost,  under  Oct.  17,  1765,  note).  In  Feb.  1766,  Boswell  found 
him  no  longer  drinking  wine.  He  shortly  returned  to  it  again  ;  for 
on  Aug.  2,  1767,  he  records,  '  I  have  for  some  days  forborne  wine  ;'  and 
on  Aug.  17,  '  By  abstinence  from  wine  and  suppers  I  obtained  sudden 
and  great  relief  (Pr.  and  Med.  pp.  73,  4).  According  to  Hawkins, 
Johnson  said  : — '  After  a  ten  years'  forbearance  of  every  fluid  except 
tea  and  sherbet,  I  drank  one  glass  of  wine  to  the  health  of  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds  on  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  he  was  knighted  ' 
(Hawkins's  Johnsons  Works  (1787),  xi.  215).  As  Reynolds  was 
knighted  on  April  21,  1769  (Taylor's  Reynolds,  i.  321),  Hawkins's  report 
is  grossly  inaccurate.  In  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Sept.  16,  ijjt,,  and  post, 
March  16,  1776,  we  find  him  abstaining.  In  1778  he  persuaded  Bos- 
well to  be  'a  water-drinker  upon  trial'  {post,  April  28,  1778J.  On 
April  7,  1779,  'he  was  persuaded  to  drink  one  glass  of  claret  that  he 
might  judge  of  it,  not  from  recollection.'  On  March  20,  1781,  Boswell 
found  that  Johnson  had  lately  returned  to  wine.  '  I  drink  it  now 
som.etimes,'  he  said,  'but  not  socially.'  He  seems  to  have  generally 
abstained  however.  On  April  20,  1 781,  he  would  not  join  in  drinking 
Lichfield  ale.  On  March  17,  1782,  he  made  some  punch  for  himself, 
by  which  in  the  night  he  thought  '  both  his  breast  and  imagination 
disordered  '  {Pr.  and  Med.  p.  205).  In  the  spring  of  this  year  Hannah 
More  urged  him  to  takq  a  little  wine.  '  I  can't  drink  a  h'/t/e,  child,' 
he  answered  ;  '  therefore  I  never  touch  it '  (H.  More's  Metnoirs,  i.  251). 
On  July  I,  1784,  Beattie.  who  met  him  at  dinner,  says,  'he  cannot  be 
prevailed  on  to  drink  wine  '  (Seattle's  Life,  p.  316).  On  his  death-bed 
he  refused  any  'inebriating  sustenance'  {post,  Dec.  1784).  It  is  re- 
markable that  writing  to  Dr.  Taylor  on  Aug.  5,  1773,  he  said  : — '  Drink 
a  great  deal,  and  sleep  heartily ;'  and  that  on  June  23,  1776,  he  again 
wrote  to  him  : — '  I  hope  you  persevere  in  drinking.  My  opinion  is 
that  I  have  drunk  too  little,  and  therefore  have  the  gout,  for  it  is  of 
my  own  acquisition,  as  neither  my  father  had  it  nor  my  mother ' 
{Notes  and  Queries.  6th  S.  v.  pp.  422,  3).  On  Sept.  19,  1777  (post), 
he  even  'owned  that  in  his  opinion  a  free  use  of  wine  did  not 
shorten  life.'  Johnson  disapproved  of  fermented  liquors  only  in 
the  case  of  those  who,  like  himself  and  Boswell,  could  not  keep  from 
excess. 

and 


122  An  Irish  Ofelltis.  [a.d.  iTsr 

and  who  had  practised  his  own  precepts  of  oeconomy  for 
several  years  in  the  British  capital'.  He  assured  Johnson, 
who,  I  suppose,  was  then  meditating  to  \.xy  his  fortune  in 
London,  but  was  appreher^sive  of  the  expence,  '  that  thirty 
pounds  a  year  was  enough  to  enable  a  man  to  live  there 
without  being  contemptible.  He  allowed  ten  pounds  for 
clothes  and  linen.  He  said  a  man  might  live  in  a  garret  at 
eighteen-pence  a  week ;  few  people  would  inquire  where  he 
lodged  ;  and  if  they  did,  it  was  easy  to  say,  "  Sir,  I  am  to  be 
found  at  such  a  place."  By  spending  three-pence  in  a  coffee- 
house, he  might  be  for  some  hours  every  day  in  very  good 
company;  he  might  dine  for  six-pence,  breakfast  on  bread 
and  milk  for  a  penny,  and  do  without  supper.  On  cleayi- 
sJiirt-day  he  went  abroad,  and  paid  visits.'  I  have  heard 
him  more  than  once  talk  of  this  frugal  friend,  whom  he  rec- 
ollected with  esteem  and  kindness,  and  did  not  like  to  have 
one  smile  at  the  recital.  '  This  man  (said  he,  gravely)  was  a 
very  sensible  man,  who  perfectly  understood  common  affairs: 
a  man  of  a  great  deal  of  knowledge  of  the  world,  fresh  from 
life,  not  strained  through  books'.  He  borrowed  a  horse  and 
ten  pounds  at  Birmingham.  Finding  himself  master  of  so 
much  money,  he  set  off  for  West  Chester\  in  order  to  get 

'  Ofellus,  or  rather  Ofella,  is  the  '  rusticus,  abnormis  sapiens,  crassa- 
que  Minerva'  of  Horace's  Satire,  ii.  2.  3.  What  he  teaches  is  briefly 
expressed  in  Pope's  Imitation,  ii.  2.  1  : 

'  What,  and  how  great,  the  virtue  and  the  art 
To  live  on  little  with  a  cheerful  heart 
(A  doctrine  sage,  but  truly  none  of  mine) ; 
Let's  talk,  my  friends,  but  talk  before  we  dine.' 
In  1769  was  published  a  worthless  poem  called  The  Art  of  Living  in 
London;  in  which  'instructions  were  given  to  persons  who  live  in  a 
garret,  and  spend  their  evenings  in  an  ale-house.'     Gent.  Mag.  xxxix. 
45.     To  this  Boswell  refers. 

*  '  Johnson  this  day,  when  we  were  by  ourselves,  observed  how  com- 
mon it  was  for  people  to  talk  from  books ;  to  retail  the  sentiments  of 
others,  and  not  their  own  ;  in  short,  to  converse  without  any  original- 
ity of  thinking.  He  was  pleased  to  say,  "  You  and  I  do  not  talk  from 
books."  '  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Nov.  3,  1773. 
'  The  passage  to  Ireland  was  commonly  made  from  Chester. 

to 


Aetat.28.]  Mr.  Henry  Hervey.  123 

to  Ireland.  He  returned  the  horse,  and  probably  the  ten 
pounds  too,  after  he  got  home.' 

Considering  Johnson's  narrow  circumstances  in  the  early- 
part  of  his  life,  and  particularly  at  the  interesting  aera  of  his 
launching  into  the  ocean  of  London,  it  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at,  that  an  actual  instance,  proved  by  experience  of 
the  possibility  of  enjoying  the  intellectual  luxury  of  social 
life,  upon  a  very  small  income,  should  deeply  engage  his 
attention,  and  be  ever  recollected  by  him  as  a  circumstance 
of  much  importance.  He  amused  himself,  I  remember,  by 
computing  how  much  more  expence  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  live  upon  the  same  scale  with  that  which  his  friend 
described,  when  the  value  of  money  was  diminished  by  the 
progress  of  commerce.  It  may  be  estimated  that  double 
the  money  might  now  with  difficulty  be  sufficient. 

Amidst  this  cold  obscurity,  there  was  one  brilliant  cir- 
cumstance to  cheer  him  ;  he  was  well  acquainted  with  Mr. 
Henry  Hervey\  one  of  the  branches  of  the  noble  family  of 
that  name,  who  had  been  quartered  at  Lichfield  as  an 
officer  of  the  army,  and  had  at  this  time  a  house  in  Lon- 
don, where  Johnson  was  frequently  entertained,  and  had  an 
opportunity  of  meeting  genteel  company.  Not  very  long 
before  his  death,  he  mentioned  this,  among  other  particulars 
of  his  life,  which  he  was  kindly  communicating  to  me ;  and 
he  described  this  early  friend,  'Harry  Hervey,'  thus:  'He 
was  a  vicious  man,  but  very  kind  to  me.  If  you  call  a  dog 
Hervey,  I  shall  love  him.' 

He  told  me  he  had  now  written  only  three  acts  of  his 
Irene,  and  that  he  retired  for  some  time  to  lodgings  at 
Greenwich,  where  he  proceeded  in  it  somewhat  further,  and 
used  to  compose,  walking  in  the  Park';  but  did  not  stay 
long  enough  at  that  place  to  finish  it. 

'  The  honourable  Henry  Hervey,  third  son  of  the  first  Earl  of  Bris- 
tol, quitted  the  army  and  took  orders.  He  married  a  sister  of  Sir 
Thomas  Aston,  by  whom  he  got  the  Aston  Estate,  and  assumed  the 
name  and  arms  of  that  family.    Vide  CoUins's  Peerage.    Boswell. 

'  The  following  brief  mention  of  Greenwich  Park  in  1750  is  found 
In  one  of   Miss  Talbot's  Letters.     '  Then  when  I  come  to  talk  of 

At 


1 24  Letter  to  Mr.  Cave.  |  a.d.  1737. 

At  this  period  we  find  the  following  letter  from  him  to 
Mr.  Edward  Cave,  which,  as  a  link  in  the  chain  of  his  literar}- 
history,  it  is  proper  to  insert : 

*To  Mr.  Cave. 

'  Greenwich,  next  door  to  the  Golden  Heart. 
Church-street,  July  \i,  1737. 

'Sir, 

'  Having  observed  in  your  papers  very  uncommon  offers  of 
encouragement  to  men  of  letters,  I  have  chosen,  being  a  stranger 
m  London,  to  communicate  to  you  the  following  design,  which,  I 
/lope,  if  you  join  in  it,  will  be  of  advantage  to  both  of  us. 

'  'I'he  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent  having  been  lately  trans- 
lated into  French,  and  published  with  large  Notes  by  Dr.  Le  Cou- 
rayer',  the  reputation  of  that  book  is  so  much  revived  in  England, 
that,  it  is  presumed,  a  new  translation  of  it  from  the  Italian,  together 
with  Le  Courayer's  Notes  from  the  French,  could  not  fail  of  a 
favotirable  reception. 

'  If  it  be  answered,  that  the  History  is  already  in  English,  it  must 
be  remembered,  that  there  was  the  same  objection  against  Le  Cou- 
rayer's  undertaking,  with  this  disadvantage,  that  the  French  had  a 
version  by  one  of  their  best  translators,  whereas  you  cannot  read 
three  pages  of  the  English  History  without  discovering  that  the 
style  is  capable  of  great  improvements ;  but  whether  those  im- 
provements are  to  be  expected  from  the  attempt,  you  must  judge 
from  the  specimen,  which,  if  you  approve  the  proposal,  I  shall  sub- 
mit to  your  examination. 

'  Suppose  the  merit  of  the  versions  equal,  we  may  hope  that  the 
addition  of  the  Notes  will  turn  the  balance  in  our  favour,  consider- 
ing the  reputation  of  the  Annotator. 

'  Be  pleased  to  favour  me  with  a  speedy  answer,  if  you  are  not 
willing  to  engage  in  this  scheme  ;  and  appoint  me  a  day  to  wait 
upon  you,  if  you  are. 

'  I  am,  Sir,  Your  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

Greenwich — Did  you  ever  see  it  ?  It  was  quite  a  new  world  to  me. 
and  a  very  charming  one.  Only  on  the  top  of  a  most  inaccessible  hill 
in  the  park,  just  as  we  were  arrived  at  a  view  that  we  had  long  been 
aiming  at,  a  violent  clap  of  thunder  burst  over  our  heads.' — Carter 
and  Talbot  Corres.  i.  345. 

'  At  the  Oxford  Commemoration  of  1733  Courayer  returned  thanks 

It 


Aetat.28.]         yohusoTi  retums  to  Lichfield.  125 

It  should  seem  from  this  letter,  though  subscribed  with  his 
own  name,  that  he  had  not  yet  been  introduced  to  Mr.  Cave. 
We  shall  presently  see  what  was  done  in  consequence  of  the 
proposal  which  it  contains. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  he  returned  to  Lichfield, 
where  he  had  left  Mrs.  Johnson,  and  there  he  at  last  finished 
his  tragedy,  which  was  not  executed  with  his  rapidity  of 
composition  upon  other  occasions,  but  was  slowly  and  pain- 
fully elaborated.  A  few  days  before  his  death,  while  burning 
a  great  mass  of  papers,  he  picked  out  from  among  them  the 
original  unformed  sketch  of  this  tragedy,  in  his  own  hand- 
writing, and  gave  it  to  Mr.  Langton,  by  whose  fa\  our  a  copy 
of  it  is  now  in  my  possession.  It  contains  fragments  of  the 
intended  plot,  and  speeches  for  the  different  persons  of  the 
drama,  partly  in  the  raw  materials  of  prose,  partly  worked 
up  into  verse ;  as  also  a  variety  of  hints  for  illustration,  bor- 
rowed from  the  Greek,  Roman,  and  modern  writers.  The 
hand-writing  is  very  difficult  to  be  read,  even  by  those  who 
were  best  acquainted  with  Johnson's  mode  of  penmanship, 
which  at  all  times  was  very  particular.  The  King  having 
graciously  accepted  of  this  manuscript  as  a  literary  curiosity, 
Mr.  Langton  made  a  fair  and  distinct  copy  of  it,  which  he 
ordered  to  be  bound  up  with  the  original  and  the  printed 
tragedy;  and  the  volume  is  deposited  in  the  King's  library'. 
His  Majesty  was  pleased  to  permit  Mr.  Langton  to  take  a 
copy  of  it  for  himself. 

The  whole  of  it  is  rich  in  thought  and  imager>%  and  happy 
expressions;  and  of  the  disjecta  inetnbra'^  scattered  through- 
out, and  as  yet  unarranged,  a  good  dramatick  poet  might 
avail  himself  with  considerable  advantage.  I  shall  give  my 
readers  some  specimens  of  different  kinds,  distinguishing 
them  by  the  Italick  character. 

in  his  robes  to  the  University  for  the  honour  it  had  done  him  two 
years  before  in  presenting  him  with  his  degree.  Dr.  Johnson :  His 
Friends  and  His  Critics,  p.  94. 

'  This  library  was  given  by  George  IV  to  the  British  Museum. 
Croker. 

*  Ovid,  Meta.  iii.  724. 

'Nor 


126  Irene.  [a.d.itst. 

''Nor  think  to  say,  here  -will  I  stop. 
Here  will  I  fix  the  limits  of  transgression. 
Nor  farther  tempt  the  avenging  rage  of  heaven. 
When  guilt  like  this  once  harbours  in  the  breast. 
Those  holy  beings,  whose  unseen  direction 
Guides  through  the  maze  of  life  the  steps  of  man. 
Fly  the  detested  mansions  of  impiety. 
And  quit  their  charge  to  horrour  and  to  ruin! 

A  small  part  oiih'  of  this  interesting  admonition  is  pre- 
s.rved  in  the  play,  and  is  \aried,  I  think,  not  to  advantage: 

'The  soul  once  tainted  with  so  foul  ;i  crime. 
No  more  shall  glow  with  friendship's  hallow'd  ardour, 
Those  holy  beings  whose  superior  care 
Guides  erring  mortals  to  the  paths  of  virtue, 
Art'righted  at  impiety  like  thine, 
Resign  their  charge  to  baseness  and  to  ruin'.' 

'■I  feel  the  soft  infection 
Flush  in  my  cheek,  and  wander  in  my  veins. 
Teach  me  the  Grecian  arts  of  soft  persuasion.^ 

'  Sure  this  is  love,  which  heretofore  I  conceived  the  dream  of  idle 
maids,  and  wanton  poets. ' 

'  Though  no  comets  or  prodigies  foretold  the  ruin  of  Greece,  signs 
which  heaven  must  by  another  miracle  enable  us  to  understand,  yet 
might  it  be  foreshewn,  by  tokens  no  less  certain,  by  the  "rices  which 
ahvays  bring  it  on.' 

This  last  passage  is  worked  up  in  the  tragedy  itself,  as 

follows : 

Leontius. 

' That  power  that  kindly  spreads 

The  clouds,  a  signal  of  impending  showers, 
To  warn  the  wand'ring  linnet  to  the  shade, 
Beheld,  without  concern,  expiring  Greece, 
And  not  one  prodig}'  foretold  our  fate. 

Demetrius. 

'A  thousand  horrid  prodigies  foretold  it; 
A  feeble  government,  eluded  laws, 

'  Act  iii.  sc.  8. 

A  factious 


Aetat.  28.]  IreXE.  1 2  7 

A  factious  populace,  luxurious  nobles. 
And  all  the  maladies  of  sinking  States. 
When  publick  villainy,  too  strong  for  justice, 
Shows  his  bold  front  the  harbinger  of  ruin. 
Can  brave  Leontius  call  for  airy  wonders. 
Which  cheats  interpret,  and  which  fools  regard  ? 
When  some  neglected  fabrick  nods  beneath 
The  weight  of  years,  and  totters  to  the  tempest. 
Must  heaven  despatch  the  messengers  of  light. 
Or  wake  the  dead,  to  warn  us  of  its  fall'  ?* 

Mahomet  (Xo  Irene).  *■  I  have  tried  thee,  and  joy  to  find  that  thou 
deseri'est  to  be  loved  by  Mahomet^ — with  a  mind  great  as  his  own. 
Sure,  thou  art  an  errour  of  nature,  and  an  exception  to  the  rest  of  thy 
sex,  and  art  immortal ;  for  sentiments  like  thine  were  never  to  sink 
into  nothing.  I  thought  all  t/ie  thoughts  of  tJu  fair  had  been  to  select 
the  graces  of  the  day,  dispose  the  colours  of  the  flaunting  {flawing) 
robe,  tune  the  voice  and  roll  the  eye,  plcue  the  gem,  choose  the  dress,  and 
add  new  roses  to  the  faditig  cheek,  but — sparkling^ 

Thus  in  the  tragedy: 

'  Illustrious  maid,  new  wonders  fix  me  thine ; 
Thy  soul  completes  the  triumphs  of  thy  face : 
I  thought,  forgive  my  fair,  the  noblest  aim. 
The  strongest  effort  of  a  female  soul 
Was  but  to  choose  the  graces  of  the  day. 
To  tune  the  tongue,  to  teach  the  eyes  to  roll. 
Dispose  the  colours  of  the  flowing  robe. 
And  add  new  roses  to  the  faded  cheek'.' 

I  shall  select  one  other  passage,  on  account  of  the  doctrine 
which  it  illustrates.     Irene  obser\-es. 

'That  the  Supreme  Being  ivill  accept  of  virtue,  whatn-er  outward 
circumstances  it  may  be  accompanied  with,  and  may  be  delighted  with 
varieties  of  worship :  but  is  answered.  That  variety  cannot  affect  that 
Being,  who,  infinitely  happy  in  his  07i'ti  perfections,  wants  no  external 
gratifications ;  nor  can  infinite  truth  be  delighted  7vith  falsehood :  that 
though  he  may  guide  or  pity  those  he  leaves  in  darkness,  he  abandons 
those  who  shut  their  eyes  against  the  bea?ns  of  day.'' 

'  Act  i.  sc.  I.  *  Act  ii.  sc.  7. 

Johnson's 


1 28  yohnso7i  settles  in  London.  [a.d.  1737. 


Johnson's  residence  at  Lichfield,  on  his  return  to  it  at  this 
time,  was  only  for  three  months ;  and  as  he  had  as  yet  seen 
but  a  small  part  of  the  wonders  of  the  Metropolis,  he  had 
little  to  tell  his  townsmen.  He  related  to  me  the  following 
minute  anecdote  of  this  period  :  '  In  the  last  age,  when  my 
mother  lived  in  London,  there  were  two  sets  of  people,  those 
who  gave  the  wall,  and  those  who  took  it ;  the  peaceable  and 
the  quarrelsome.  When  I  returned  to  Lichfield,  after  hav- 
ing been  in  London,  my  mother  asked  me,  whether  I  was  one 
of  those  who  gave  the  wall,  or  those  who  took  it.  Now  it  is 
fixed  that  every  man  keeps  to  the  right ;  or,  if  one  is  taking 
the  wall,  another  )'ields  it ;  and  it  is  never  a  dispute'.' 

He  now  removed  to  London  with  Mrs.  Johnson ;  but  her 
daughter,  who  had  lived  with  them  at  Edial,  was  left  with 
her  relations  in  the  country^  His  lodgings  were  for  some 
time  in  Woodstock-street,  near  Hanover-square,  and  after- 
wards in  Castle-street,  near  Cavendish-square.  As  there  is 
something  pleasingly  interesting,  to  many,  in  tracing  so  great 
a  man  through  all  his  different  habitations,  I  shall,  before 
this  work  is  concluded,  present  my  readers  with  an  exact  list 
of  his  lodgings  and  houses,  in  order  of  time,  which,  in  placid 
condescension  to  my  respectful  curiosity,  he  one  evening 
dictated  to  me\  but  without  specifying  how  long  he  lived 
at  each.  In  the  progress  of  his  life  I  shall  have  occasion 
to  mention  some  of  them  as  connected  with  particular  inci- 
dents, or  with  the  writing  of  particular  parts  of  his  works. 
To  some,  this  minute  attention  may  appear  trifling ;  but 
when  we  consider  the  punctilious  exactness  with  which  the 
different  houses  in  which  Milton  resided  have  been  traced 

'  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  3rd  edit.  p.  232  [Sept.  20,  1773]. 

BOSWELL. 

-  Johnson's  letter  to  her  of  Feb.  6,  1759,  shows  that  she  was,  at  that 
time,  living  in  his  house  at  Lichfield.  Miss  Seward  {Letters,  i.  116) 
says  that  '  she  boarded  in  Lichfield  with  his  mother.'  Some  passages 
in  other  of  his  letters  (Croker's  Boswell,  pp.  144,  145,  173)  lead  me  to 
think  that  she  stayed  on  in  this  house  till  1766,  when  she  had  built 
herself  a  house  with  money  left  by  her  brother. 

'  Stcpost,  Oct.  10,  1779. 

by 


Aetat.  28.]  ThE    GENTLEMAN'S   MaQAZINE.  139 

by  the  writers  of  his  life,  a  similar  enthusiasm  may  be  par- 
doned in  the  biographer  of  Johnson. 

His  tragedy  being  by  this  time,  as  he  thought,  completely 
finished  and  fit  for  the  stage,  he  was  very  desirous  that  it 
should  be  brought  forward.  Mr.  Peter  Garrick  told  me,  that 
Johnson  and  he  went  together  to  the  Fountain  tavern,  and 
read  it  over,  and  that  he  afterwards  solicited  Mr.  Fleetwood, 
the  patentee  of  Drury-lane  theatre,  to  have  it  acted  at  his 
house ;  but  Mr.  Fleetwood  would  not  accept  it,  probably 
because  it  was  not  patronized  by  some  man  of  high  rank'; 
and  it  was  not  acted  till  1749,  when  his  friend  David  Garrick 
was  manager  of  that  theatre. 

The  Gentleman  s  Magazine,  begun  and  carried  on  by  Mr. 
Edward  Cave,  under  the  name  of  SvLVAXUS  Urban ^,  had 
attracted  the  notice  and  esteem  of  Johnson,  in  an  eminent 
degree,  before  he  came  to  London  as  an  adventurer  in  litera- 
ture. He  told  me,  that  when  he  first  saw  St.  John's  Gate, 
the  place  where  that  deservedly  popular  miscellany^  was 
originally  printed,  he  'beheld  it  with  reverence'.'     I  suppose, 

'  He  could  scarcely  have  solicited  a  worse  manager.  Horace  Wal- 
pole  writing  in  1744  {Letters,  i.  332)  says:  'The  town  has  been  trying 
all  this  winter  to  beat  pantomimes  off  the  stage  very  boisterously. 
Fleetwood,  the  master  of  Drury-Lane,  has  omitted  nothing  to  sup- 
port them  as  they  supported  his  house.  About  ten  days  ago,  he  let 
into  the  pit  great  numbers  of  Bear-garden  bruisers  (that  is  the  term) 
to  knock  down  everybody  that  hissed.  The  pit  rallied  their  forces 
and  drove  them  out.' 

'  It  was  not  till  volume  v.  that  Cave's  name  was  given  on  the  title- 
page.  In  volumes  viii.  and  ix.,  and  volumes  xii.  to  xvii.  the  name  is 
Edward  Cave,  Jun.  Cave  in  his  examination  before  the  House  of 
Lords  on  April  30,  1747,  said  : — 'That  he  was  concerned  in  the  Gentle- 
inatis  Magazine  at  first  with  his  nephew  :  and  since  the  death  of  his 
nephew  he  has  done  it  entirely  himself.'     Pari.  Hist.  xiv.  59. 

'  Its  sale,  according  to  Johnson,  was  ten  thousand  copies.  Post, 
April  25,  1778.  So  popular  was  it  that  before  it  had  completed  its 
ninth  year  the  fifth  edition  of  some  of  the  earliest  numbers  was 
printed.  Johnson's  Works,  v.  349.  In  the  Life  of  Ca-oe  Johnson  de- 
scribes it  as  '  a  periodical  pamphlet,  of  which  the  scheme  is  knowr 
wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken.'    lb.  vi.  431. 

*  Yet  the  early  numbers  contained  verses  as  grossly  indecent  as 
I. — 9  indeed, 


130  A  list  of  yolinsons  writings.        [ah.  1738. 

indeed,  that  every  young  authour  has  had  the  same  kind  of 
feeling  for  the  magazine  or  periodical  publication  which  has 
first  entertained  him,  and  in  which  he  has  first  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  see  himself  in  print,  without  the  risk  of  exposing 
his  name.  I  myself  recollect  such  impressions  from  '  The 
Scots  Ma^a.zifir,"  which  was  begun  at  Edinburgh  in  the  year 
1739,  and  has  been  ever  conducted  with  judgement,  accuracy, 
and  pro})riety.  1  yet  cannot  help  thinking  uf  it  with  an 
affectionate  regard.  Johnson  has  dignified  the  Gentleman  s 
Magazine,  by  the  importance  with  which  he  invests  the  life 
of  Cave ;  but  he  has  given  it  still  greater  lustre  by  the 
various  admirable  Essays  which  he  wrote  for  it. 

Though  Johnson  was  often  solicited  by  his  friends  to 
make  a  complete  list  of  his  writings,  and  talked  of  doing  it, 
I  believe  with  a  serious  intention  that  they  should  all  be  col- 
lected on  his  own  account,  he  put  it  off  from  year  to  year, 
and  at  last  died  without  having  done  it  perfectly.  I  have  one 
in  his  own  hand-writing,  which  contains  a  certain  number' ; 
I  indeed  doubt  if  he  could  have  remembered  ever>'  one  of 
them,  as  they  were  so  numerous,  so  various,  and  scattered  in 
such  a  multiplicity  of  unconnected  publications  ;  nay,  several 
of  them  published  under  the  names  of  other  persons,  to 
whom  he  liberally  contributed  from  the  abundance  of  his 
mind.  We  must,  therefore,  be  content  to  discover  them, 
partly  from  occasional  information  given  b\-  him  to  his 
friends,  and  partly  from  internal  evidence'. 

His  first  performance  in  the  Gentlevian  s  Magazine,  which 

they  were  dull.  Cave  moreover  advertised  indecent  books  for  sale  at 
St.  John's  Gate,  and  in  one  instance,  at  least,  the  advertisement  was  in 
very  gross  language. 

'  See /£).?/,  April  25,  1778. 

*  While  in  the  course  of  my  narrative  I  enumerate  his  writings,  I 
shall  take  care  that  my  readers  shall  not  be  left  to  waver  in  doubt, 
between  certainty  and  conjecture,  with  regard  to  their  authenticity ; 
and.  for  that  purpose,  shall  mark  with  an  asterisk  (*)  those  which  he 
acknowledged  to  his  friends,  and  with  a  dat^i^er  (+)  those  which  are 
ascertained  to  be  his  by  internal  evidence.  When  any  other  pieces 
are  ascribed  to  him,  I  shall  give  my  reasons,     Boswell. 

for 


Aetat.  29.]  Edward  Cave.  131 

for  many  years  was  his  principal  source  for  employment 
and  support,  was  a  copy  of  Latin  verses,  in  March  1738, 
addressed  to  the  editor  in  so  happy  a  style  of  compliment, 
that  Cave  must  have  been  destitute  both  of  taste  and  sen- 
sibility had  he  not  felt  himself  highly  gratified'. 

'Ad  Urbanum*. 
'  Urban  K",  nullis  fesse  labor ibus. 
Urbane,  nullis  vide  calumniis'^, 

'  Hawkins  says  that  '  Cave  had  few  of  those  qualities  that  constitute 
the  character  of  urbanity.  Upon  the  first  approach  of  a  stranger  his 
practice  was  to  continue  sitting,  and  for  a  few  minutes  to  continue 
silent.  If  at  any  time  he  was  inclined  to  begin  the  discourse,  it  was 
generally  by  putting  a  leaf  of  the  Maj^azuie  then  in  the  press  into  the 
hand  of  his  visitor  and  asking  his  opinion  of  it.  He  was  so  incompe- 
tent a  judge  of  Johnson's  abilities  that,  meaning  at  one  time  to  dazzle 
him  wMth  the  splendour  of  some  of  those  luminaries  in  literature  who 
favoured  him  with  their  correspondence,  he  told  him  that,  if  he  would 
in  the  evening  be  at  a  certain  alehouse  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Clerk- 
enwell.  he  might  have  a  chance  of  .seeing  Mr.  Browne  and  another  or 
two  of  the  persons  mentioned  in  the  preceding  note.  [The  note  con- 
tained the  names  of  .some  of  Cave's  regular  writers.]  yohn.son  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  ;  and  being  introduced  by  Cave,  dressed  in  a 
loose  horseman's  coat,  and  such  a  great  bushy  uncombed  wig  as  he 
constantly  wore,  to  the  sight  of  Mr.  Browne,  whom  he  found  sitting 
at  the  upper  end  of  a  long  table,  in  a  cloud  of  tobacco-smoke,  had  his 
curiosity  gratified.'  [Mr.  Carlyle  writes  of  '  bushy-wigged  Cave;'  but 
it  was  Johnson  whose  wig  is  described,  and  not  Cave's.  On  p.  337 
Hawkins  again  mentions  his  'great  bushy  wig,' and  says  that  'it  was 
ever  nearly  as  impenetrable  by  a  comb  as  a  quickset  hedge.']  Haw- 
kins's Johnson,  pp.  45-50.  Johnson,  after  mentioning  Cave's  slowness, 
says :  '  The  .same  chillness  of  mind  was  observable  in  his  conversa- 
tion ;  he  was  watching  the  minutest  accent  of  those  whom  he  di.sgusted 
by  seeming  inattention  ;  and  his  visitant  was  surprised,  when  he  came 
a  second  time,  by  preparations  to  execute  the  scheme  which  he  sup- 
posed never  to  have  been  heard.'     Johnson's  Wo7-ks,  vi.  434. 

' '  The  first  lines  put  one  in  mind  of  Casimir's  Ode  to  Pope  Urban  : — 
"  Urbane,  regum  maxime,  maxime 
Urbane  vatum." 
The  Polish  poet  was  probably  at  that  time  in  the  hands  of  a  man 
who  had  meditated  the  history  of  the  Latin  poets.'     Murphy's  John- 
son, p.  42. 

'Cave  had  been  grosslv  attacked  bv  rival   booksellers;  see  Gent. 

Cui 


132  'Ad    UkBANUm'  [a.D.  1738. 

Cui  fronte  scrtum  in  eruditA 
Perpetuh  viret  ct  virebit ; 

Quid  moliatur  gciis  imifaniium, 
Quid  ct  minetui\  soliciiiis  parum, 
Vacare  solis  pergc  Musis, 
jpuxta  animo  studiisque  felix. 

LingucB  procacis  plumbea  spicula, 
Fidms,  supt'rbo  f range  silcntio ; 
Viilrix  per  obstanics  catervas 
Scdulitas  aniniosa  tendet. 

Intende  ncr7'OS,/oriis,  inanibus 
Risurus  olim  nisibus  (cmuli ; 
Intcndc  jam  netTOS,  habebis 
Participes  opene  Camainas. 

Non  ulla  Musis  pagina  gratior, 
Quam  qUiC.  srixris  ludicra  jungerc 
Novit,  fatigatavique  nugis 
Utilibus  rccreare  mentem. 

Texente  Nyfnphis  serta  Lycoride, 
Ros(Z  ruborem  sic  viola  adjuvat 
I?ntnista,  sic  Iris  refulget 

yEt/iereis  variata  /ucis\^  S.  J. 

Mag.  viii.  156.  Hawkins  says  {Li/e,  p.  92), '  With  that  sagacity  which 
we  frequently  observe,  but  wonder  at.  in  men  of  slow  parts,  he  seemed 
to  anticipate  the  advice  contained  in  Johnson's  ode.  and  forbore  a 
reply,  though  not  his  revenge.'  This  he  gratified  by  reprinting  in  his 
own  Magazine  one  of  the  most  scurrilous  and  foolish  attacks. 

'  A  translation  of  this  Ode,  by  an  unknown  correspondent,  appeared 
in  the  Magazine  for  the  month  of  May  following: 

'  Hail.  Urban  !  indefatigable  man. 

Unwearied  yet  by  all  thy  useful  toil ! 
Whom  num'rous  slanderers  assault  in  vain ; 

Whom  no  base  calumny  can  put  to  foil. 
But  still  the  laurel  on  thy  learned  brow 
Flourishes  fair,  and  shall  for  ever  grow. 

'What  mean  the  servile  imitating  crew. 
What  their  vain  blust'ring,  and  their  empty  fibise, 

Ne'er  seek :  but  still  thy  noble  ends  pursue, 
Unconquer'd  by  the  rabble's  vefial  voice. 

It 


Aetat.  29.]  Coimected  with  Gentlemax's  Magazine.   133 

It  appears  that  he  was  now  enlisted  by  Mr.  Cave  as  a  regu- 
lar coadjutor  in  his  magazine,  by  which  he  probably  obtained 
a  tolerable  livelihood.  At  what  time,  or  by  what  means, 
he  had  acquired  a  competent  knowledge  both  of  French' 

Still  to  the  Muse  thy  studious  mind  apply, 
Happy  in  temper  as  in  industry. 

*  The  senseless  sneerings  of  an  haughty  tongue, 

Unworthy  thy  attention  to  engage. 

Unheeded  pass :  and  tho'  they  mean  thee  wrong, 

By  manly  silence  disappoint  their  rage. 
Assiduous  diligence  confounds  its  foes, 
Resistless,  tho'  malicious  crouds  oppose. 

'  Exert  thy  powers,  nor  slacken  in  the  course, 
Thy  spotless  fame  shall  quash  all  false  reports : 

Exert  thy  powers,  nor  fear  a  rival's  force. 
But  thou  shalt  smile  at  all  his  vain  efforts ; 

Thy  labours  shall  be  crown'd  with  large  success; 

The  Muse's  aid  thy  Magazine  shall  bless. 

'No  page  more  grateful  to  th'  harmonious  nine 
Than  that  wherein  thy  labours  we  survey ; 

Where  solemn  themes  in  fuller  splendour  shine, 
(Delightful  mixture,)  blended  with  the  gay, 
Where  in  improving,  various  joys  we  find, 
A  welcome  respite  to  the  wearied  mind. 

'  Thus  when  the  nymphs  in  some  fair  verdant  mead, 
Of  various  flow'rs  a  beauteous  wreath  compose, 

The  lovely  violet's  azure-painted  head 
Adds  lustre  to  the  crimson-blushing  rose. 
Thus  splendid  Iris,  with  her  varied  dye, 
Shines  in  the  aether,  and  adorns  the  sky.     BRITON.' 

BOSWELI,. 

*  '  I  have  some  reason  to  think  that  at  his  first  coming  to  town  he 
frequented  Slaughter's  coffee-house  with  a  view  to  acquire  a  habit  of 
speaking  French,  but  he  never  could  attain  to  it.  Lockman  used  the 
same  method  and  succeeded,  as  Johnson  himself  once  told  me.'  Haw- 
kins's "Jolinson,  p.  516.  Lockman  is  rUlustrc  Lockman  mentioned  post, 
1780,  in  Mr.  Langton's  Collection.  It  was  at  'Old  Slaughter's  Cof- 
fee-house, when  a  number  of  foreigners  were  talking  loud  about  lit- 
tle matters,  that  Johnson  one  evening  said,  "  Does  not  this  confirm 
old  Meynell's  observation.  For  anything  I  sec,  foreigners  are  fools  "  .'' 
post,  ib. 

and 


134  Reports  of  the  Debates.  [a.d.1738. 

and  Italian',  I  do  not  know  ;  but  he  was  so  well  skilled  in 
them,  as  to  be  sufficiently  qualified  for  a  translator.  That 
part  of  his  labour  which  consisted  in  emendation  and  im- 
provement of  the  productions  of  other  contributors,  like 
that  employed  in  levelling  ground,  can  be  perceived  only 
by  those  who  had  an  opportunity  of  comparing  the  original 
with  the  altered  copy.  What  we  certainly  know  to  have 
been  done  by  him  in  this  way,  was  the  Debates  in  both 
houses  of  Parliament,  under  the  name  of  '  The  Senate  of 
Lilliput,'  sometimes  with  feigned  denominations  of  the  sev- 
eral speakers,  sometimes  with  denominations  formed  of  the 
letters  of  their  real  names,  in  the  manner  of  what  is  called 
anagram,  so  that  they  might  easily  be  decyphered.  Parlia- 
ment then  kept  the  press  in  a  kind  of  mysterious  awe,  which 
made  it  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  such  devices.  In  our 
time  it  has  acquired  an  unrestrained  freedom,  so  that  the 
people  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  have  a  fair,  open,  and 
exact  report  of  the  actual  proceedings  of  their  representa- 
tives and  legislators,  which  in  our  constitution  is  highly  to 
be  valued;  though,  unquestionably,  there  has  of  late  been 
too  much  reason  to  complain  of  the  petulance  with  which 
obscure  scribblers  have  presumed  to  treat  men  of  the  most 
respectable  character  and  situation  \ 

'  He  had  read  Petrarch  '  when  but  a  boy ;'  ante.  p.  66. 

'Horace  Walpole.  writing  of  the  year  1770.  about  libels,  says: 
'  Their  excess  was  shocking,  and  in  nothing  more  condemnable  than 
in  the  dangers  they  brought  on  the  liberty  of  the  press.'  This  evil 
was  chiefly  due  to  '  the  spirit  of  the  Court,  which  aimed  at  despotism, 
and  the  daring  attempts  of  Lord  Mansfield  to  stifle  the  liberty  of  the 
press.  His  innovations  had  given  such  an  alarm  that  scarce  a  jury 
would  find  the  rankest  satire  libellous.'  Memoirs  of  the  Rctg^i  of 
George  III,  iv.  167.  Smollett  in  Humphrey  Clinker  (published  in  1771) 
makes  Mr.  Bramble  write,  in  his  letter  of  June  2  :  '  The  public  papers 
are  become  the  infamous  vehicles  of  the  most  cruel  and  perfidious 
defamation  ;  every  rancorous  knave — every  desperate  incendiar\-,  that 
can  afford  to  spend  half-a-crown  or  three  shillings,  may  skulk  behind 
the  press  of  a  newsmonger,  and  have  a  stab  at  the  first  character  in 
the  kingdom,  without  running  the  least  hazard  of  detection  or  pun- 
ishment.'   The  scribblers  who  had  of  late  shewn  their  petulance  were 

This 


Aetat.39.j  Williavt  Guthrie.  135 

This  important  article  of  the  Gentiema?is  Magazine  was, 
for  several  years,  executed  by  Mr.  William  Guthrie,  a  man 
who  deser\'es  to  be  respectably  recorded  in  the  literary 
annals  of  this  country.  He  was  descended  of  an  ancient 
family  in  Scotland;  but  having  a  small  patrimony,  and  being 
an  adherent  of  the  unfortunate  house  of  Stuart,  he  could  not 
accept  of  any  office  in  the  state ;  he  therefore  came  to  Lon- 
don, and  employed  his  talents  and  learning  as  an  'Authour 
b)'  profession'.'  His  writings  in  histor)',  criticism,  and  poli- 
ticks, had  considerable  merit ^  He  was  the  first  English 
historian  who  had  recourse  to  that  authentick  source  of 
information,  the  Parliamentary  Journals;  and  such  was  the 
power  of  his  political  pen,  that,  at  an  early  period.  Govern- 
ment thought  it  worth  their  while  to  keep  it  quiet  by  a  pen- 
sion, which  he  enjoyed  till  his  death.  Johnson  esteemed  him 
enousrh  to  wash  that  his  life  should  be  written'.    The  debates 


not  always  obscure.  Such  scurrilous  but  humorous  pieces  as  Proba- 
tionary Odes  for  tlic  Laurrah's/iip,  The  Rolliad,  and  Royal  Recollections, 
which  were  all  published  while  Boswell  was  writing  The  Life  of  John- 
son, were  written,  there  can  be  little  doubt,  by  men  of  position.  In 
the  first  of  the  three  (p.  27)  Boswell  is  ridiculed.  He  is  made  to  say; 
— '  I  know  Mulgrave  is  a  bit  of  a  poet  as  well  as  myself;  for  I  dined 
in  company  once  where  he  dined  that  ver)-  day  twelvemonth.'  This 
evil  of  libelling  had  extended  to  America.  Benjamin  Franklin  {Me- 
moirs,  i.  148),  writing  in  1784,  says  that  'libelling  and  personal  abuse 
have  of  late  years  become  so  disgraceful  to  our  countn'.  Many  of 
our  printers  make  no  scruple  of  gratifying  the  malice  of  individuals 
by  false  accusations  of  the  fairest  characters.' 

'  Boswell  perhaps  refers  to  a  book  published  in  1758,  called  T/ie 
Case  of  Authors  by  Profession.  Gent.  Mag.  xxviii.  1 30.  Guthrie  applies 
the  term  to  himself  in  the  letter  below. 

•  How  much  poetry  he  wrote,  I  know  not :  but  he  informed  me.  that 
he  was  the  authour  of  the  beautiful  little  piece.  The  Eagle  and  Robin 
Redbreast,  in  the  collection  of  poems  entitled  The  Union,  though  it  is 
there  said  to  be  w'ritten  by  Archibald  Scott,  before  the  year  1600. 
Boswell.  Mr.  P.  Cunningham  has  seen  a  letter  of  Jos.  Warton's 
which  states  that  this  poem  was  written  by  his  brother  Tom,  who 
edited  the  volume.     Croker. 

'  Dr.  A.  Carlyle  in  his  Autobiography  (p.  191)  describes  a  curious 
scene  that  he  witnessed  in  the  British  Coffee-house.     A  Captain 

in 


1 36  William  Giil/irie.  [a.d.  1738. 

in  Parliament,  which  were  brought  home  and  digested  by 
Guthrie,  whose  memory,  though  surpassed  by  others  who 
have  since  followed  him  in  the  same  department,  was  yet 
very  quick  and  tenacious,  were  sent  by  Cave  to  Johnson 
for  his  revision' ;   and,  after  some   time,  when   Guthrie  had 

Cheap  '  was  employed  by  Lord  Anson  to  look  out  for  a  proper  person 
to  write  his  voyage.  Cheap  had  a  predilection  for  his  countrymen, 
and  having  heard  of  Guthrie,  he  had  come  down  to  the  coflee-house 
to  inquire  about  him.  Not  long  after  Cheap  had  sat  down,  Guthrie 
arrived,  dressed  in  laced  clothes,  and  talking  loud  to  everybody,  and 
soon  fell  awrangling  with  a  gentleman  about  tragedy  and  comedy  and 
the  unities,  cS:c.,  and  laid  down  the  law'  of  the  drama  in  a  peremptory 
manner,  supporting  his  arguments  with  cursing  and  swearing.  I  saw 
Cheap  was  astonished,  when,  going  to  the  bar,  he  asked  who  this  was, 
and  finding  it  was  Guthrie  he  paid  his  cofTee  and  slunk  off  in  silence.' 
Guthrie's  meanness  is  shown  by  the  following  letter  in  D'Israeli's 
Calainities  of  Authors,  i.  5  : — 

'June  3,  1762. 

•  My  Lord, 

'  In  the  year  1745-6  Mr.  Pelham,  then  First  Lord  of  the  Treas- 
ury, acquainted  me  that  it  was  his  Majesty's  pleasure  I  should  receive 
till  better  provided  for,  which  never  has  happened,  200/.  a  year,  to  be 
paid  by  him  and  his  successors  in  the  Treasur}'.  I  was  satisfied  with 
the  august  name  made  use  of,  and  the  appointment  has  been  regularly 
and  quarterly  paid  me  ever  since.  I  have  been  equally  punctual  in 
doing  the  Government  all  the  services  that  fell  within  my  abilities  or 
sphere  of  life,  especially  in  those  critical  situations  that  call  for  una- 
nimity in  the  service  of  the  Crown. 

'  Your  Lordship  may  possibly  now  suspect  that  I  am  an  Author  by 
profession ;  you  are  not  deceived ;  and  will  be  less  so,  if  you  believe 
that  I  am  disposed  to  serve  his  Majesty  under  your  Lordship's  future 
patronage  and  protection  with  greater  zeal,  if  possible,  than  ever. 
'  I  have  the  honour  to  be  my  Lord  &c. 

'William  Guthrie.' 

The  lord's  name  is  not  given.     See  post,  spring  of  1768,  and  1780  in 
Mr.  Langton's  Collection  for  further  mention  of  Guthrie. 

'  Perhaps    there    were    Scotticisms    for   Johnson    to    correct ;    for 
Churchill  in  Tlic  Atithor,  writing  of  Guthrie,  asks  : — 
'  With  rude  unnatural  jargon  to  support 
Half  Scotch,  half  English,  a  declining  Court 

Is  there  not  Guthrie  ?' 

Churchill's  Poetns,  u.  aq, 

actained 


Aetat.29.J  LoNDON,  A    PoEM.  1 37 


attained  to  greater  variety  of  employment,  and  the  speeches 
were  more  and  more  enriched  by  the  accession  of  Johnson's 
genius,  it  was  resolved  that  he  should  do  the  whole  himself, 
from  the  scanty  notes  furnished  by  persons  employed  to 
attend  in  both  houses  of  Parliament.  Sometimes,  however, 
as  he  himself  told  me,  he  had  nothing  more  communicated 
to  him  than  the  names  of  the  several  speakers,  and  the  part 
which  they  had  taken  in  the  debate'. 

Thus  was  Johnson  employed  during  some  of  the  best  years 
of  his  life,  as  a  mere  literary  labourer  '  for  gain,  not  glory',' 
solely  to  obtain  an  honest  support.  He  however  indulged 
himself  in  occasional  little  sallies,  which  the  French  so  hap- 
pily express  by  the  term  Jcitx  d' esprit,  and  which  will  be 
noticed  in  their  order,  in  the  progress  of  this  work. 

But  what  first  displayed  his  transcendent  powers,  and 
'gave  the  world  assurance  of  the  Man','  was  his  London,  a 
Poem,  in  Imitation  of  the  Third  Satire  of  Juvenal :  which 
came  out  in  May  this  year,  and  burst  forth  with  a  splendour, 
the  rays  of  which  will  for  ever  encircle  his  name.  Boileau 
had  imitated  the  same  satire  with  great  success,  applying  it 
to  Paris;  but  an  attentive  comparison  will  satisfy  every 
reader,  that  he  is  much  excelled  by  the  English  Juvenal. 
Oldham  had  also  imitated  it,  and  applied  it  to  London  ;  all 
which  performances  concur  to  prove,  that  great  cities,  in 
every  age,  and  in  every  country,  will  furnish  similar  topicks 
of  satire\  Whether  Johnson  had  previously  read  Oldham's 
imitation,  I  do  not  know  ;  but  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable, 


'  See  Appendix  A. 

*  Pope,  Imitations  of  Horace,  \\.  i.  71. 

'  '  To  give  the  world  assurance  of  a  man.'     Hainlct,  Act  iii.  sc.  4. 

*  In  his  Life  of  Pope  Johnson  says  :  '  This  mode  of  imitation  .  .  . 
was  first  practised  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  by  Oldham  and  Roches- 
ter; at  least  I  remember  no  instances  more  ancient.  It  is  a  kind  of 
middle  composition  between  translation  and  original  design,  which 
pleases  when  the  thoughts  are  unexpectedly  applicable  and  the  paral- 
lels lucky.  It  seems  to  have  been  Pope's  favourite  amusement,  for 
he  has  carried  it  farther  than  any  former  poet.'  Johnson's  Works, 
viii.  295. 

that 


Oldham. 


138  Oldham  and  yohnson  cotnpared.      [a.d.  1738. 

that  there  is  scarcely  any  coincidence  found  between  the 
two  performances,  though  upon  the  very  same  subject.  The 
only  instances  are,  in  describing  London  as  the  sink  of  for- 
eign worthlcssness  : 

* the  common  shore. 

Where   I'Vance  does  all  her  filth  and  ordure  pour.' 

Oldham. 
'The  common  shore  of  Paris  and  of  Rome." 

Johnson. 
and, 

'  No  calling  or  profession  comes  amiss, 
A  needy  monsieur  can  be  what  he  please.' 

'All  sciences  -^  fasting  monsieur  knows.' 

Johnson. 

The  particulars  which  Oldham  has  collected,  both  as  ex- 
hibiting the  horrours  of  London,  and  of  the  times,  contrasted 
with  better  days,  are  different  from  those  of  Johnson,  and  in 
general  well  chosen,  and  well  exprest'. 

There  are,  in  Oldham's  imitation,  many  prosaick  verses 
and  bad  rhymes,  and  his  poem  sets  out  with  a  strange  inad- 
vertent blunder : 

'Tho'  much  concem'd  to  leave  my  dear  old  friend, 
I  must,  however,  his  design  commend 
Of  fixing  in  the  country .' 

'  I  own  it  pleased  me  to  find  amongst  them  one  trait  of  the  manners 
of  the  age  in  London,  in  the  last  century,  to  shield  from  the  sneer  of 
English  ridicule,  which  was  some  time  ago  too  common  a  practice  in 
my  native  city  of  Edinburgh  : — 

'If  what  I've  said  can't  from  the  town  affright, 
Consider  other  dangers  of  the  night ; 
When  brickbats  are  from  upper  stories  thrown, 
And  emptied  chamberpots  come  pouring  down 
From  garret  windows.'  BOSWELL. 

See  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Aug.  14,  1773,  where  Johnson,  on  taking  his 
first  walk  in  Edinburgh,  'grumbled  in  Boswell's  ear,  "  I  smell  you  in 
the  dark."  '  I  once  spent  a  night  in  a  town  of  Corsica,  on  the  great 
road  between  Ajaccio  and  Bastia,  where,  I  was  told,  this  Edinburgh 
practice  was  universal.     It  certainly  was  the  practice  of  the  hotel. 

It 


Aetat.  39.]  The  publication  of  London.  139 

It  is  plain  he  was  not  going  to  leave  h\s  friend;  his  friend 
was  going  to  leave  him.  A  young  lady  at  once  corrected 
this  with  good  critical  sagacity,  to 

'The'  much  concern'd  to  lose  my  dear  old  friend.' 

There  is  one  passage  in  the  original,  better  transfused  by 
Oldham  than  by  Johnson  : 

*  JVil  habet  infelix  pmipertas  dtirius  in  se, 
Qudm  quod  ridiculos  ho^nines  facit ;' 

which  is  an  exquisite  remark  on  the  galling  meanness  and 
contempt  annexed  to  poverty:  JOHNSON'S  imitation  is, 

'Of  all  the  griefs  that  harass  the  distrest, 
Sure  the  most  bitter  is  a  scornful  jest.' 

Oldham's,  though  less  elegant,  is  more  just : 

*  Nothing  in  poverty  so  ill  is  borne, 

As  its  exposing  men  to  grinning  scorn.' 

Where,  or  in  what  manner  this  poem  was  composed,  I  am 
sorry  that  I  neglected  to  ascertain  with  precision,  from  John- 
son's own  authority.  He  has  marked  upon  his  corrected 
copy  of  the  first  edition  of  it,  'Written  in  1738;'  and,  as  it 
was  published  in  the  month  of  May  in  that  year,  it  is  evident 
that  much  time  was  not  employed  in  preparing  it  for  the 
press.  The  history  of  its  publication  I  am  enabled  to  give 
in  a  very  satisfactory  manner  ;  and  judging  from  myself,  and 
many  of  my  friends,  I  trust  that  it  will  not  be  uninteresting 
to  my  readers. 

We  may  be  certain,  though  it  is  not  expressly  named 
in  the  following  letters  to  Mr.  Cave,  in  1738,  that  they  all 
relate  to  it : 

'To  Mr.  Cave. 

'Castle-street,  Wednesday  Morning. 
[No  date.     1738.] 
•Sir, 

'  When  I  took  the  liberty  of  writing  to  you  a  few  days  ago,  I 
did  not  expect  a  repetition  of  the  same  pleasure  so  soon  :  for  a 
pleasure  I  shall  always  think  it,  to  converse  in  any  manner  with 
an  ingenious  and  candid  man;  but  having  the  inclosed  poem  in 

my 


140  Johnson  s  letters  to  Cave.  [a.i-.  ithr 

my  hands  to  dispose  of  for  the  benefit  of  the  aiithour  (of  whose 
abilities  I  shall  say  nothing,  since  I  send  you  his  performance,)  I 
believed  I  could  not  procure  more  advantageous  terms  from  any 
person  than  from  you,  who  have  so  much  distinguished  yourself 
by  your  generous  encouragement  of  poetry ;  and  whose  judgment 
of  that  art  nothing  but  your  commendation  of  my  trifle'  can  gi\e 
me  any  occasion  to  call  in  question.  1  do  not  doubt  but  you  will 
look  over  this  poem  with  another  eye,  and  reward  it  in  a  different 
manner,  from  a  mercenary  bookseller,  who  counts  the  lines  he  is 
to  purchase',  and  considers  nothing  but  the  bulk.  I  cannot  help 
taking  notice,  that,  besides  what  the  authour  may  hope  for  on  ac- 
count of  his  abilities,  he  has  likewise  another  claim  to  your  regard, 
as  he  lies  at  present  under  very  disadvantageous  circumstances  of 
fortune.  I  beg,  therefore,  that  you  will  favour  me  with  a  letter  to- 
morrow, that  I  may  know  what  you  can  afford  to  allow  him,  that 
he  may  either  part  with  it  to  you,  or  find  out,  (which  1  do  not  ex- 
pect,) some  other  way  more  to  his  satisfaction. 

'  I  have  only  to  add,  that  as  I  am  sensible  I  have  transcribed  it 
very  coarsely,  which,  after  having  altered  it,  I  was  obliged  to  do,  I 
will,  if  you  please  to  transmit  the  sheets  from  the  press,  correct  it 
for  you  ;  and  take  the  trouble  of  altering  any  stroke  of  satire  which 
you  may  dislike. 

'  By  exerting  on  this  occasion  your  usual  generosity,  you  will 
not  only  encourage  learning,  and  relieve  distress,  but  (though  it 
be  in  comparison  of  the  other  motives  of  very  small  account) 
oblige  in  a  very  sensible  manner,  Sir, 

'  Your  very  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

♦To  Mr.  Cave. 

'  Monday,  No.  6.  Castle-street. 
•Sir, 

'I  am  to  return  you  thanks  for  the  present  you  were  so  kind 
as  to  send  by  me',  and  to  intreat  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  in- 
form me  by  the  penny- post*,  whether  you  resolve    to  print  the 

»  His  Ode  Ad  Urbanum  probably.     Nichols.     Boswell. 

*  Johnson,  on  his  death-bed,  had  to  own  that  '  Cave  was  a  penurious 
paymaster ;  he  would  contract  for  Hnes  by  the  hundred,  and  expect 
the  long  hundred.'     See/dJi-/,  Dec.  1784. 

^  Cave  sent  the  present  by  Johnson  to  the  unknown  author. 

*  See  post,  p.  151,  note  5. 

poem. 


Aetat. 29.]  Johnsons  letters  to  Cave.  141 


poem.  If  you  please  to  send  it  me  by  the  post,  witli  a  note  to 
Dodsley,  I  will  go  and  read  the  lines  to  him,  that  we  may  have  his 
consent  to  put  his  name  in  the  title-page.  As  to  the  printing,  if 
it  can  be  set  immediately  about,  I  will  be  so  much  the  authour's 
friend,  as  not  to  content  myself  with  mere  solicitations  in  his  fa- 
vour. I  propose,  if  my  calculation  be  near  the  truth,  to  engage  for 
the  reimbursement  of  all  that  you  shall  lose  by  an  impression  of 
500 ;  provided,  as  you  very  generously  propose,  that  the  profit,  if 
any,  be  set  aside  for  the  authour's  use,  excepting  the  present  you 
made,  which,  if  he  be  a  gainer,  it  is  fit  he  should  repay.  I  ber:: 
that  you  will  let  one  of  your  servants  write  an  exact  account  of 
the  expense  of  such  an  impression,  and  send  it  with  the  poem, 
that  I  may  know  what  I  engage  for.  I  am  very  sensible,  from  your 
generosity  on  this  occasion,  of  your  regard  to  learning,  even  in  its 
unhappiest  state  ,  and  cannot  but  think  such  a  temper  deserving 
of  the  gratitude  of  those  who  suffer  so  often  from  a  contrary  dis- 
position.    I  am.  Sir, 

'  Your  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson'.' 

'To  Mr.  Cave. 

[No  da/e\] 
'Sir, 

'  I  waited  on  you  to  take  the  copy  to  Dodsley's  :  as  I  remem- 
ber the  number  of  lines  which  it  contains,  it  will  be  no  longer  than 
Eugenio^,  with  the  quotations,  which  must  be  subjoined  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  page  ;  part  of  the  beauty  of  the  performance  (if  any 
beauty  be  allowed  it)  consisting  in  adapting  Juvenal's  sentiments 
to  modern  facts  and  persons.  It  will,  with  those  additions,  very 
conveniently  make  five  sheets.     And  since  the  expense  will  be  no 

'  The  original  letter  has  the  following  additional  paragraph : — '  I 
beg  that  you  will  not  delay  your  answer.' 

'  In  later  life  Johnson  strongly  insisted  on  the  importance  of  fully 
dating  all  letters.  After  giving  the  date  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  he 
would  add. — '  Now  there  is  a  date,  look  at  it '  {Piozzi  Letters,  ii.  109) ; 
or, '  Mark  that— you  did  not  put  the  year  to  your  last '  {lb.  p.  1 1::)  ;  or, 
'Look  at  this  and  learn  '  (lb.  p.  138).  She  never  did  learn.  The  ar- 
rangement of  the  letters  in  the  Piozzi  Letters  is  often  very  faulty. 
For  an  omission  of  the  date  by  Johnson  in  late  life  see  fost,  under 
March  5,  1774. 

'  A  poem,  published  in  1737,  of  which  see  an  account  under  April 

30,  1773.      BOSWELL. 

more. 


142  Mrs.  Carter.  [a. d.  1738. 

more,  I  shall  contentedly  insure  it,  as  I  mentioned  in  my  last.  If 
it  be  not  therefore  gone  to  Dodsley's,  I  beg  it  may  be  sent  me  by 
the  penny-post,  that  I  may  have  it  in  the  evening.  I  have  com- 
posed a  Greek  epigram  to  Eliza',  and  think  she  ought  to  be  cele- 
brated in  as  many  different  languages  as  Lewis  le  (irand'.  Pray 
send  me  word  when  you  will  begin  upon  the  poem,  for  it  is  a  long 
way  to  walk.  I  would  leave  my  Epigram,  but  have  not  daylight  to 
transcribe  it'.     I  am,  Sir, 

*  Your's,  &c., 

'  Sam.  Johnson*.' 

'  The  learned  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Carter.  Hoswell.  She  was  born 
Dec.  1 717,  and  died  Feb.  19,  1806.  She  never  married.  Her  father 
gave  her  a  learned  education.  Dr.  Johnson,  speaking  of  some  cele- 
brated scholar  [perhaps  Langton J,  said,  'that  he  understood  Greek 
better  than  any  one  whom  he  had  ever  known,  except  Elizabeth 
Carter.'  Pennington's  Carter,  i.  13.  Writing  to  her  in  1756  he  said, 
'  Poor  dear  Cave !  I  owed  him  much ;  for  to  him  I  owe  that  I  have 
known  you  '  {lb.  p.  40).  Her  father  wrote  to  her  on  June  25,  1738: — 
'  You  mention  Johnson ;  but  that  is  a  name  with  which  I  am  utterly 
unacquainted.  Neither  his  scholastic,  critical,  or  poetical  character 
ever  reached  my  ears.  I  a  little  suspect  his  judgment,  if  he  is  very 
fond  of  Martial '  {lb.  p.  39).  Since  1734  she  had  written  verses  for  the 
Gettf.  Mag.  under  the  name  of  Eliza  {lb.  p.  37).  They  are  very  poor. 
Her  Ode  to  Melancholy  her  biographer  calls  her  best.  How  bad  it  is 
three  lines  will  show  ; — 

'  Here,  cold  to  pleasure's  airy  forms, 
Consociate  with  my  sister  worms. 

And  mingle  with  the  dead.'     Gent.  A  fag.  ix.  599. 

Hawkins  records  that  Johnson,  upon  hearing  a  lady  commended  for 
her  learning,  said  :— '  A  man  is  in  general  better  pleased  when  he  has 
a  good  dinner  upon  his  table  than  when  his  wife  talks  Greek.  My 
old  friend,  Mrs.  Carter,  could  make  a  pudding  as  well  as  translate 
Epictetus.'  Johnson's  Works  ( 1787),  xi.  205.  Johnson,  joining  her 
with  Hannah  More  and  Fanny  Burney,  said  : — '  Three  such  women 
are  not  to  be  found.'     Post,  May  15,  1784. 

*  See  Voltaire's  Steele  de  Louts  XIV,  ch.  xxv. 

'  At  the  end  of  his  letter  to  Cave,  quoted  post,  1742,  he  says  : — '  The 
boy  found  me  writing  this  almost  in  the  dark,  when  I  could  not  quite 
easily  read  yours.'  A  man  who  at  times  was  forced  to  walk  the 
streets,  for  want  of  money  to  pay  for  a  lodging,  was  likely  also  at 
times  to  be  condemned  to  idleness  for  want  of  a  light. 

*  At  the  back  of  this  letter  is  wxitten  ;— -'  Sir,  Please  to  publish  the 

'To 


Aetat.  29.]  Negotiations  with  Dodsley.  143 


'  To  Mr.  Cave. 

S^No  date.] 
'Sir, 

'  I  am  extremely  obliged  by  your  kind  letter,  and  will  not  fail 
to  attend  you  to-morrow  with  Ire?ie,  who  looks  upon  you  as  one  of 
her  best  friends. 

'  I  was  to  day  with  Mr.  Dodsley,  who  declares  very  warmly  in 
favour  of  the  paper  you  sent  him,  which  he  desires  to  have  a  share 
in,  it  being,  as  he  says,  a  creditable  thing  to  be  concerned  in.  I  knew 
not  what  answer  to  make  till  I  had  consulted  you,  nor  what  to  de- 
mand on  the  authour's  part,  but  am  very  willing  that,  if  you  please, 
he  should  have  a  part  in  it,  as  he  will  undoubtedly  be  more  diligent 
to  disperse  and  promote  it.  If  you  can  send  me  word  to-morrow 
what  I  shall  say  to  him,  I  will  settle  matters,  and  bring  the  poem 
with  me  for  the  press,  which,  as  the  town  empties,  we  cannot  be 
too  quick  with.     I  am,  Sir, 

'  Your's,  &c., 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

To  us  who  have  long  known  the  manly  force,  bold  spirit, 
and  masterly  versification  of  this  poem,  it  is  a  matter  of 
curiosity  to  observe  the  diffidence  with  which  its  authour 
brought  it  forward  into  publick  notice,  while  he  is  so  cau- 
tious as  not  to  avow  it  to  be  his  own  production  ;  and  with 
what  humility  he  offers  to  allow  the  printer  to  '  alter  any 
stroke  of  satire  which  he  might  dislike'.'  That  any  such 
alteration  was  made,  we  do  not  know.  If  we  did,  we  could 
not  but  feel  an  indignant  regret ;  but  how  painful  is  it  to  see 
that  a  writer  of  such  vigorous  powers  of  mind  was  actually 
in  such  distress,  that  the  small  profit  which  so  short  a  poem, 
however  excellent,  could  yield,  was  courted  as  a  'relief.' 

It  has  been  generally  said,  I  know  not  with  what  truth, 
that  Johnson  offered  his  London  to  several  booksellers,  none 

enclosed  in  your  paper  of  first,  and  place  to  ace*  of  Mr.  Edward  Cave. 
For  whom  I  am,  Sir,  your  hum.  ser'  J.  Bland.  St.  John's  Gate,  April 
6,  1738.'     Lcmdofi  therefore  was  written  before  April  6. 

'  Boswell  misread  the  letter.  Johnson  does  not  offer  to  allow  the 
printer  to  make  alterations.  He  says : — '  I  will  take  the  trouble  of 
altering  any  stroke  of  satire  which  you  may  dislike.'  The  law  against 
libel  was  as  unjust  as  it  was  severe,  and  printers  ran  a  great  risk. 

of 


144  Payme7it  for  London.  [a.d.  1738. 

of  whom  would  purchase  it.     To  this  circumstance  Mr.  Der- 
rick alludes  in  the  following  lines  of  his  Foriiow,  a  Rhapsody. 

'  Will  no  kind  patron  Johnson  own  ? 
Shall  JoHNS(jN  friendless  range  the  town? 
And  every  publisher  refuse 
The  offspring  of  his  happy  Muse ' .'" 

But  we  have  seen  that  the  worthy,  modest,  and  ingenious 
Mr.  Robert  Dodsley"  had  taste  enough  to  perceive  its  un- 
common merit,  and  thought  it  creditable  to  have  a  share  in 
it.  The  fact  is,  that,  at  a  future  conference,  he  bargained 
for  the  whole  property  of  it,  for  which  he  gave  Johnson  ten 
guineas';  who  told  me,  'I  might,  perhaps,  have  accepted  of 
less ;  but  that  Paul  Whitehead  had  a  little  before  got  ten 
guineas  for  a  poem  and  I  would  not  take  less  than  Paul 
Whitehead.' 

I  may  here  observe,  that  Johnson  appeared  to  me  to 
undervalue  Paul  Whitehead  upon  every  occasion  when  he 
was  mentioned,  and,  in  my  opinion,  did  not  do  him  justice; 
but  when  it  is  considered  that  Paul  Whitehead  was  a  mem- 
ber of  a  riotous  and  profane  club*,  we  may  account  for 
Johnson's  having  a  prejudice  against  him.  Paul  Whitehead 
was,   indeed,   unfortunate    in    being    not    only    slighted    by 

'  Derrick  was  not  merely  a  poet,  but  also  Master  of  the  Ceremonies 
at  Bath ;  post,  May  i6,  1763.  For  Johnson's  opinion  of  his  '  Muse  '  see 
post,  under  March  30,  1783.  FortH7ie,  a  Rhapsody,  wa.?,  published  in 
Nov.  1 75 1.  Gent.  Mag.  xxi.  527.  He  is  described  in  Humphrey  Clinker 
in  the  letters  of  April  6  and  May  6. 

"^  See  post,  March  20,  1776. 

*  Six  years  later  Johnson  thus  wrote  of  Savage's  Wanderer: — '  From 
a  poem  so  diligently  laboured,  and  so  successfully  finished,  it  might 
be  reasonably  expected  that  he  should  have  gained  considerable  ad- 
vantage ;  nor  can  it  without  some  degree  of  indignation  and  concern 
be  tf)ld,  that  he  sold  the  copy  for  ten  guineas.'  Johnson's  Works,  viii. 
131.  Mrs.  Piozzi  sold  in  1788  the  copyright  of  her  collection  of  John- 
son's Letters  for  /500;  post,  Feb.  1767. 

*  The  Monks  of  Medmenham  Abbey.  See  Almon's  Life  of  Wilkes. 
iii.  60,  for  Wilkes's  account  of  this  club.  Horace  Walpole  {Letters,  \, 
92)  calls  Whitehead  '  an  infamous,  but  not  despicable  poet.' 

Jolmson, 


Aetat.29.]  Paul  Whitehead.  145 

Johnson,  but  violently  attacked  by  Churchill,  who  utters  the 
following  imprecation  : 

'  May  I  (can  worse  disgrace  on  manhood  fall  ?) 
Be  born  a  Whitehead,  and  baptiz'd  a  Paul ' !' 

yet   I   shall   never  be   persuaded   to    think   meanly   of  the 
authour  of  so  brilliant  and  pointed  a  satire  as  Manners'*. 
Johnson's  London  was  published  in  May  1738';  and  it  is 

■  From  The  Coftference,  Churchill's  Poems,  ii.  15. 

*  In  the  Life  of  Pope  Johnson  writes  : — '  Paul  Whitehead,  a  small 
poet,  was  summoned  before  the  Lords  for  a  poem  called  Manners, 
together  with  Dodsley  his  publisher.  Whitehead,  who  hung  loose 
upon  society,  sculked  and  escaped ;  but  Dodsley 's  shop  and  family 
made  his  appearance  necessar)'.'  Johnson's  \Vorks,v\\\.  297.  Alanners 
was  published  in  1739.  Dodsley  was  kept  in  custody  for  a  week. 
Gent.  Mag.  ix.  104.  '  The  whole  process  was  supposed  to  be  intended 
rather  to  intimidate  Pope  [who  in  his  Seventeen  Hundred  and  T/u'rty- 
Etght  had  given  offence]  than  to  punish  Whitehead,  and  it  answered 
that  purpose.'    Chalmers,  quoted  in  Pari.  Hist.  x.  1325. 

^  Sir  John  Hawkins,  p.  86,  tells  us  : — '  The  event  is  antedated,  in  the 
poem  of  London ;  but  in  every  particular,  except  the  difference  of  a 
year,  what  is  there  said  of  the  departure  of  Thales,  must  be  under- 
stood of  Savage,  and  looked  upon  as  true  history.'  This  conjecture 
is,  I  believe,  entirely  groundless.  I  have  been  assured,  that  Johnson 
said  he  was  not  so  much  as  acquainted  with  Savage  when  he  wrote 
his  London.  If  the  departure  mentioned  in  it  was  the  departure  of 
Savage,  the  event  was  not  antedated  but  foreseen ;  for  London  was 
published  in  May  1738,  and  Savage  did  not  set  out  for  Wales  till  July 
1739.  However  well  Johnson  could  defend  the  credibility  of  second 
sight  [see/oj-/,  Feb.  1766],  he  did  not  pretend  that  he  himself  was  pos- 
sessed of  that  faculty.  Boswell.  I  am  not  sure  that  Hawkins  is 
altogether  wrong  in  his  account.  Boswell  does  not  state  of  his  own 
knoTuledge  that  Johnson  was  not  acquainted  with  Savage  when  he 
wrote  London.  The  death  of  Queen  Caroline  in  Nov.  1737  deprived 
Savage  of  her  yearly  bounty,  and  'abandoned  him  again  to  fortune ' 
(Johnson's  Works,  viii.  166).  The  elegy  on  her  that  he  composed  on 
her  birth-day  (March  i)  brought  him  no  reward.  He  was  'for  some 
time  in  suspense,'  but  nothing  was  done.  '  He  was  in  a  short  time 
reduced  to  the  lowest  degree  of  distress,  and  often  wanted  both 
lodging  and  food'  (/^.  p.  169).  His  friends  formed  a  scheme  that 
'he  should  retire  into  Wales.'  'While  this  scheme  was  ripening,'  he 
lodged  '  in  the  liberties  of  the  Fleet,  that  he  might  be  secure  from  his 
I. — 10  remarkable. 


146  PVas  Richard  Savage   Thales?       [a.d.  1738. 


remarkable,  that   it   came   out    on   the   same   morning  with. 


creditors'  {lb.  p.  170).  After  many  delays  a  subscription  was  at  length 
raised  to  provide  him  with  a  small  pension,  and  he  left  London  in 
July  1739  ( /^.  p.  173).  London,  as  I  have  shewn,  was  written  before 
April  6,  1738.  That  it  was  written  with  great  rapidity  we  might  mfer 
from  the  fact  that  a  hundred  lines  of  The  Va)iiiy  of  Human  Wishes 
were  written  in  a  day.  At  this  rate  London  might  have  been  the  work 
of  three  days.  That  it  was  written  in  a  very  short  time  seems  to  be 
shown  by  a  passage  in  the  first  of  these  letters  to  Cave.  Johnson 
says : — '  When  I  took  the  liberty  of  writing  to  you  a  few  days  ago,  I 
did  not  expect  a  repetition  of  the  same  pleasure  so  soon ;  .  .  .  but 
having  the  enclosed  poem,  &c.'  It  is  probable  that  in  these  few  days 
the  poem  was  written.  If  we  can  assume  that  Savage's  elegy  was 
sent  to  the  Court  not  later  than  March  i — it  may  have  been  sent 
earlier — and  that  Johnson's  poem  was  written  in  the  last  ten  days  of 
March,  we  have  three  weeks  for  the  interv^ening  events.  They  arc 
certainly  not  more  than  sufficient,  if  indeed  they  are  sufficient.  The 
coincidence  is  certainly  very  striking  between  Thales's  retirement  to 
'  Cambria's  solitary  shore  '  and  Savage's  retirement  to  Wales.  There 
are  besides  lines  in  the  poem — additions  to  Juvenal  and  not  transla- 
tions— which  curiously  correspond  with  what  Johnson  wrote  of  Sav- 
age in  his  L/ff.  Thus  he  says  that  Savage  '  imagined  that  he  should 
be  transported  to  scenes  of  flowery  felicity ;  ...  he  could  not  bear  .  .  . 
to  lose  the  opportunity  of  listening,  without  intermission,  to  the  mel- 
ody of  the  nightingale,  which  he  believed  was  to  be  heard  from  every 
bramble,  and  which  he  did  not  fail  to  mention  as  a  very  important 
part  of  the  happiness  of  a  country  life '  {3.  p.  170).  In  like  manner 
Thales  prays  to  find  : — 

'  Some  pleasing  bank  where  verdant  osiers  play. 
Some  peaceful  vale,  with  nature's  paintings  gay. 

There  every  bush  with  nature's  musick  rings ; 

There  every  breeze  bears  health  upon  its  wings.' 
Mr.  Croker  objects  that  '  if  Thales  had  been  Savage,  Johnson  could 
never  have  admitted  into  his  poem  two  lines  that  point  so  forcibly  at 
the  drunken  fray,  in  which  Savage  stabbed  a  Mr.  Sinclair,  for  which 
he  was  convicted  of  vturder : — 

"  Some  frolic  drwikard,  reeling  from  a  feast, 

Provokes  a  broil,  and  stabs  you  in  a  jest." ' 
But  here  Johnson  is  following  Juvenal.     Mr.  Croker  forgets  that,  if 
Savage  was  convicted  of  murder,  '  he  was  soon  after  admitted  to  bail, 
and  pleaded  the  Kiug's  pardon.'     '  Persons  of  distinction '  testified 
that  he  was  '  a  modest  inoffensive  man,  not  inclined  to  broils  or  to  in- 

Pope's 


Aetat.  29.J  General  Oglethorpe.  147 

Pope's  satire.  entitledJ^2Z3^'  • '  so  that  England  had  at  once 
its  Juvenal  and  Horace''  as  poetical  monitors.  The  Rever- 
end Dr.  Douglas,  now  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  to  whom  I  am 
indebted  for  some  obliging  communications,  was  then  a  stu- 
dent at  Oxford,  and  remembers  well  the  effect  which  London 
produced.  Every  body  was  delighted  with  it  ;  and  there 
being  no  name  to  it,  the  first  buz  of  the  literary  circles  was 
'here  is  an  unknown  poet,  greater  even  than  Pope.'  And 
it  is  recorded  in  the  Gentlonans  Magazine  of  that  year',  that 
it  'got  to  the  second  edition  in  the  course  of  a  week.' 

One  of  the  warmest  patrons  of  this  poem  on  its  first 
appearance  was  General  Oglethorpe,  whose  'strong  benevo- 
lence of  souT,'  was  unabated  during  the  course  of  a  very 

science  ;'  the  witnesses  against  him  were  of  the  lowest  character,  and 
his  judge  had  shewn  himself  as  ignorant  as  he  was  brutal.  Sinclair 
had  been  drinking  in  a  brothel,  and  Savage  asserted  that  he  had 
stabbed  him  '  by  the  necessity  of  self  defence  '  {lb.  p.  1 17).  It  is,  how- 
ever, not  unlikely  that  Wales  was  suggested  to  Johnson  as  Thales's 
retreat  by  Swift's  lines  on  Steele,  in  Miscellanies  in  Prose  and  Verse 
(v.  181),  published  only  three  years  before  Londo7i : — 

'  Thus  Steele  who  owned  what  others  writ, 
And  flourished  by  imputed  wit. 
From  perils  of  a  hundred  jails 
Withdrew  to  starve  and  die  in  Wales.' 
'  The  first  dialogue  was  registered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  12th  May, 
1738,  under  the  title  One  Thousand  Seven  Hundred  a7id  Thirty  Eight. 
The  second  dialogue  was  registered  17th  July,  1738,  as  Otie  Thousand 
Seven  Hundred  and  Thirty  Eight,  Dialogue  2.     Elwin's  Pope.  iii.  455. 

David  Hume  was  in  London  this  spring,  finding  a  publisher  for  his 
first  work,  A  Treatise  of  Human  Nature.     J.  H.  Burton's  Hiwte,  i.  66. 
"  Pope  had  published  Imitations  of  Horace. 

^  P.  269.  BoswELL.  '  Short  extracts  from  London,  a  Poem,  become 
remarkable  for  having  got  to  the  second  edition  in  the  space  of  a 
week.'  Gent.  Mag.  viii.  269.  The  price  of  the  poem  was  one  shilling. 
Pope's  satire,  though  sold  at  the  same  price,  was  longer  in  reaching 
its  second  edition  {lb.  p.  280). 
*  '  One  driven  by  strong  benevolence  of  soul 

Shall  fly,  like  Oglethorpe,  from  pole  to  pole.' 

Pope's  hnitatiotis  of  Horace,  ii.  2.  276. 
'General  Oglethorpe,  died  1785,  earned  commemoration  in  Pope's 
gallery  of  worthies  by  his  Jacobite  politics.     He  was,  however,  a  re- 
long 


148  General  Oglethorpe.  [a.l>.  1738. 

long  life' ;  though  it  is  painful  to  think,  that  he  had  but  too 
much  reason  to  become  cold  and  callous,  and  discontented 
with  the  world,  from  the  neglect  which  he  experienced  of  his 
publick  and  private  worth,  by  those  in  whose  power  it  was  to 
gratify  so  gallant  a  veteran  with  marks  of  distinction.  This 
extraordinary  person  was  as  remarkable  for  his  learning  and 
taste,  as  for  his  other  eminent  qualities;  and  no  man  was 
more  prompt,  active,  and  generous,  in  encouraging  merit.  1 
have  heard  Johnson  gratefully  acknowledge,  in  his  presence, 
the  kind  and  effectual  support  which  he  gave  to  his  London, 
though  unacquainted  with  its  authour. 

Pope,  who  then  filled  the  poetical  throne  without  a  ri\al. 
it  may  reasonably  be  presumed,  must  ha\c  been  particularl)' 

markable  man.  He  first  directed  attention  to  the  abuses  of  the  Lon- 
don jails.  His  relinquishment  of  all  the  attractions  of  English  life 
and  fortune  for  the  settlement  of  the  colony  of  Georgia  is  as  romantic: 
a  story  as  that  of  Bishop  Berkeley*  (Pattisons  Popi',\).  152).  It  is 
very  likely  that  Johnson's  regard  for  Oglethorpe  was  greatly  increased 
by  the  stand  that  he  and  his  brother -trustees  in  the  settlement  of 
Georgia  made  against  slavery  (see  post,  Sept.  23,  1777  ).  'The  first 
principle  which  they  laid  down  in  their  laws  was  that  no  slave  should 
be  employed.  This  was  regarded  at  the  time  as  their  great  and  fun- 
damental error;  it  was  afterwards  repealed'  iSouthey's  frV.v/n',  i.  75). 
In  spite,  however,  of  Oglethorpe's  '  strong  benevolence  of  soul '  he  at 
one  time  treated  Charles  Wesley,  who  was  serving  as  a  missionary' 
in  Georgia,  with  great  brutality  {lb.  p.  88).  According  to  Benjamin 
Franklin  (Memoirs,  i.  162)  Georgia  was  settled  with  little  forethought. 
'  Instead  of  being  made  with  hardy  industrious  husbandmen,  it  was 
with  families  of  broken  shop-keepers,  and  other  insolvent  debtors ; 
many  of  idle  habits,  taken  out  of  the  jails,  who  being  set  down  in  the 
woods,  unqualified  for  clearing  land,  and  unable  to  endure  the  hard- 
ships of  a  new  settlement,  perished  in  numbers,  leaving  many  helpless 
children  unprovided  for.'  Johnson  wished  to  write  Oglethorpe's  life; 
post,  April  10,  1775. 

I  Horace  Walpole  {Letters,  viii.  548),  writing  of  him  47  years  after 
London  was  published,  when  he  was  87  years  old,  says :— •  His  eyes, 
ears,  articulation,  limbs,  and  memory  would  suit  a  boy,  if  a  boy  could 
recollect  a  century  backwards.  His  teeth  are  gone;  he  is  a  shadow, 
and  a  wrinkled  one;  but  his  spirits  and  his  spirit  are  in  full  bloom: 
two  years  and  a-half  ago  he  challenged  a  neighbouring  gentleman  for 
trespassing  on  his  manor.' 

struck 


Aetat.  39.]  Pope  admires  London.  149 

struck  by  the  sudden  appearance  of  such  a  poet ;  and,  to 
his  credit,  let  it  be  remembered,  that  his  feelings  and  con- 
duct on  the  occasion  were  candid  and  liberal.  He  requested 
Mr.  Richardson,  son  of  the  painter',  to  endeavour  to  find 
out  who  this  new  authour  was.  Mr.  Richardson,  after  some 
inquiry,  having  informed  him  that  he  had  discovered  only 
that  his  name  was  Johnson,  and  that  he  was  some  obscure 
man,  Pope  said,  'he  will  soon  be  dcterrc'."  We  shall  pres- 
ently see,  from  a  note  written  by  Pope,  that  he  was  himself 
afterwards  more  successful  in  his  inquiries  than  his  friend. 

That  in  this  justly-celebrated  poem  may  be  found  a  few 
rhymes^  which  the  critical  precision  of  English  prosody  at 
this  day  would  disallow,  cannot  be  denied  ;  but  with  this 
small  imperfection,  which  in  the  general  blaze  of  its  excel- 
lence is  not  perceived,  till  the  mind  has  subsided  into  cool 
attention,  it  is,  undoubtedly,  one  of  the  noblest  productions 
in  our  language,  both  for  sentiment  and  expression.  The 
nation  was  then  in  that  ferment  against  the  court  and  the 

'  '  Once  Johnson  being  at  dinner  at  Sir  Joshua's  in  company  with 
many  painters,  in  the  course  of  conversation  Richardson's  Treatise  on 
Painting  happened  to  be  mentioned.  "  Ah !"  said  Johnson.  "  I  re- 
member, when  I  was  at  college,  I  by  chance  found  that  book  on  my 
stairs.  I  took  it  up  with  me  to  my  chamber,  and  read  it  through, 
and  truly  I  did  not  think  it  possible  to  say  so  much  upon  the  art." 
Sir  Joshua  desired  of  one  of  the  company  to  be  informed  what  John- 
son had  said ;  and  it  being  repeated  to  him  so  loud  that  Johnson 
heard  it,  the  Doctor  seemed  hurt,  and  added,  "  But  I  did  not  wish,  Sir, 
that  Sir  Joshua  should  have  been  told  what  I  then  said." '  North- 
cote's  Reynolds,  i.  236.  Jonathan  Richardson  the  painter  had  published 
several  works  on  painting  before  Johnson  went  to  college.  He  and 
his  son,  Jonathan  Richardson,  junior,  brought  out  together  Explana- 
tory Notes  on  Paradise  Lost. 

*  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  from  the  information  of  the  younger  Richard- 
son. BoswELL.  See  post,  Oct.  16,  1769,  where  John.son  himself  re- 
lates this  anecdote.  According  to  Murphy, '  Pope  said,  "  The  author, 
whoever  he  is,  will  not  be  long  concealed  ;"  alluding  to  the  passage  in 
Terence  \Eun.  ii.  3,  4],  Ubi,  ubi  est,  diu  celari  non  potest.'  Murphy's 
yohnson,  p.  35. 

'  Such  as  far  and  air,  which  comes  twice ;  vain  and  man,  despair 
and  bar. 

ministry 


15°  Johnson  a  'trite-born  Jinghshman.     [a. d.  1738. 

ministry,  which  some  years  after  ended  in  the  downfall  of  Sir 
Robert  Walpole  ;  and  as  it  has  been  said,  that  Tories  are 
Whigs  when  out  of  place,  and  Whigs,  Tories  when  in  place: 
so,  as  a  Whig  administration  ruled  with  what  force  it  could, 
a  Tory  opposition  had  all  the  animation  and  all  the  elo- 
quence of  resistance  to  power,  aided  by  the  common  topicks 
of  patriotism,  liberty,  and  independence  !  Accordingly,  we 
find  in  Johnson's  London  the  most  spirited  invectives  against 
tyranny  and  oppression,  the  warmest  predilection  for  his  own 
country,  and  the  purest  love  of  virtue;  interspersed  with 
traits  of  his  own  particular  character  and  situation,  not  omit- 
ting his  prejudices  as  a  'true-born  Englishman','  "ot  only 
against  foreign  countries,  but  against  Ireland  and  Scotland'. 
On  some  of  these  topicks  I  shall  quote  a  few  passages: 

'  The  cheated  nation's  happy  fav'rites  see ; 
Mark  whom  the  great  caress,  who  frown  on  me.' 

*  Has  heaven  reserv'd  in  pity  to  the  poor. 
No  pathless  waste,  or  undiscover'd  shore  ? 
No  secret  island  in  the  boundless  main  ? 
No  peaceful  desart  yet  unclaim'd  by  Spain  ? 

'  It  is,  however,  remarkable,  that  he  uses  the  epithet,  which  un- 
doubtedly, since  the  union  between  England  and  Scotland,  ought  to 
denominate  the  natives  of  both  parts  of  our  island  : — 

'Was  early  taught  a  Briton's  rights  to  prize.'  Boswell. 
Swift,  in  his  Journal  to  Stella  (Nov.  23,  171 1),  having  to  mention 
England,  continues: — 'I  never  will  call  it  Britain,  pray  don't  call  it 
Britain.'  In  a  letter  written  on  Aug.  8,  1738,  again  mentioning  Eng- 
land, he  adds, — '  Pox  on  the  modern  phrase  Great  Britain,  which  is 
only  to  distinguish  it  from  Little  Britain,  where  old  clothes  and  old 
books  are  to  be  bought  and  sold'  (Swift's  Works,  1803,  xx.  185). 
George  III  'gloried  in  being  born  a  Briton;'  post,  1760.  Boswell 
thrice  more  at  least  describes  Johnson  as  'a  true-born  Englishman;' 
post,  under  Feb.  7,  1775.  under  March  30,  1783,  and  Boswell's  Hebrides 
under  Aug.  11,  1773.  The  quotation  is  from  Richard  II,  Act  i.  sc.  3. 
*  '  For  who  would  leave,  unbrib'd,  Hibernia's  land, 

Or  change  the  rocks  of  Scotland  for  the  Strand  } 
There  none  are  swept  by  sudden  fate  away. 
But  all,  whom  hunger  spares,  with  age  decay.' 

London,  1.  9-12. 
Quick 


Aetat.29.]  Sir  Robert  Walpole.  151 

Quick  let  us  rise,  the  happy  seats  explore, 
And  bear  Oppression's  insolence  no  more'.' 

'  How,  when  competitors  like  these  contend. 
Can  surly   Virtue  hope  to  fix  a  friend  ?' 

'  This  mournful  truth  is  every  where  confess'd. 
Slow  rises  worth,  by  poverty  depress'd'!' 

We  may  easily  conceive  with  what  feeling  a  great  mind  like 
his,  cramped  and  galled  by  narrow  circumstances,  uttered 
this  last  line,  which  he  marked  by  capitals.  The  whole  of  the 
poem  is  eminently  excellent,  and  there  are  in  it  such  proofs 
of  a  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  of  a  mature  acquaintance 
with  life,  as  cannot  be  contemplated  without  wonder,  when 
we  consider  that  he  was  then  only  in  his  twenty-ninth  year, 
and  had  yet  been  so  little  in  the  'busy  haunts  of  men'.' 

Yet,  while  we  admire  the  poetical  excellence  of  this  poem, 
candour  obliges  us  to  allow,  that  the  flame  of  patriotism  and 
zeal  for  popular  resistance  with  which  it  is  fraught,  had  no  /  -Y- 

just  cause.    There  was,  in  truth,  no  *  oppression ; '  the  '  nation '    /        "  f^ 
was  not  '  cheated.'      Sir  Robert  Walpole  was  a  wise  and  3   1  ,rf'^ 
benevolent  minister,  who  thought  that   the  happiness  and    ' 
prosperity  of  a  commercial  country  like  ours,  would  be  best 

'  In  the  Life  of  Savage,  Johnson,  criticising  the  settlement  of  colo- 
nies, as  it  is  considered  by  the  poet  and  the  politician,  seems  to  be 
criticising  himself.  '  The  politician,  when  he  considers  men  driven 
into  other  countries  for  shelter,  and  obliged  to  retire  to  forests  and 
deserts,  and  pass  their  lives,  and  fix  their  posterity,  in  the  remotest 
corners  of  the  world,  to  avoid  those  hardships  which  they  suffer  or 
fear  in  their  native  place,  may  very  properly  enquire,  why  the  legisla- 
ture does  not  provide  a  remedy  for  these  miseries,  rather  than  encour- 
age an  escape  from  them.  He  may  conclude  that  the  flight  of  every 
honest  man  is  a  loss  to  the  community.  .  .  .  The  poet  guides  the  un- 
happy fugitive  from  want  and  persecution  to  plenty,  quiet,  and  secur- 
ity, and  seats  him  in  scenes  of  peaceful  solitude,  and  undisturbed 
repose.'    Johnson's  Works,  \\\\.  1^6. 

^  Three  years  later  Johnson  wrote : — '  Mere  unassisted  merit  ad- 
vances slowly,   -',  what  is  not  very  common,  it  advances  at  all.'     lb.  vi. 

393- 

*  'The  busy  hum  of  men.'     Milton's  L' Allegro,  1.  118. 

promoted 


152  Hardships  of  writing  for  bread,      [a. d.  1738. 

promoted  by  peace,  which  he  accordingly  niaiiitaiiicd,  witli 
credit,  during  a  very  long  period.  Johnson  himself  after- 
wards honestly  acknowledged  the  merit  of  W'alpole,  w  hom 
he  called  'a  fixed  star;'  while  he  characterized  his  oppo- 
nent, Pitt,  as  'a  meteor^.'  But  Johnson's  juvenile  poem  was 
naturally  impregnated  with  the  fire  of  opposition,  and  upon 
every  account  was  universally  admired. 

Though  thus  elevated  into  fame,  and  conscious  of  uncom- 
mon powers,  he  had  not  that  bustling  confidence,  or,  I  may 
rather  say,  that  animated  ambition,  w  hich  one  might  have 
supposed  would  have  urged  him  to  endeavour  at  rising  in 
life.  But  such  was  his  inflexible  dignity  of  character,  that 
he  could  not  stoop  to  court  the  great ;  without  w  hich,  hardh' 
any  man  has  made  his  way  to  a  high  station".  He  could  not 
expect  to  produce  many  such  works  as  his  London,  and  he 
felt  the  hardships  of  writing  for  bread  ;  he  was,  therefore, 
willing  to  resume  the  office  of  a  schoolmaster,  so  as  to  have 

'  See  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Oct.  21,  1773,  and  post,  March  21.  1775,  for 
Johnson's  attack  on  Lord  Chatham.  In  the  Life  of  'J'iwinson  Johnson 
wrote  : — '  At  this  time  a  long  course  of  opposition  to  Sir  Robert  Wal- 
pole  had  filled  the  nation  with  clamours  for  liberty,  of  which  no  man 
felt  the  want,  and  with  care  for  liberty,  which  was  not  in  danger.' 
Johnson's  Works,  viii.  370.  Hawkins  says  (Life.  p.  514) : — '  Of  Walpole 
he  had  a  high  opinion.  He  said  of  him  that  he  was  a  fine  fellow,  and 
that  his  very  enemies  deemed  him  so  before  his  death.  He  honcjured 
his  memory  for  having  kept  this  country  in  peace  many  years,  as  also 
for  the  goodness  and  placability  of  his  temper.'  Horace  Walpole 
{Letters  v.  509),  says  : — '  My  father  alone  was  capable  of  acting  on  one 
great  plan  of  honesty  from  the  beginning  of  his  life  to  the  end.  He 
could  for  ever  wage  war  with  knaves  and  malice,  and  preserv^e  his 
temper;  could  know  men,  and  yet  feel  for  them;  could  smile  when 
opposed,  and  be  gentle  after  triumph.' 

'Johnson  in  the  Life  of  Milton  describes  himself: — 'Milton  was 
naturally  a  thinker  for  himself,  confident  of  his  own  abilities,  and  dis- 
dainful of  help  or  hindrance.  From  his  contemporaries  he  neither 
courted  nor  received  support;  there  is  in  his  writings  nothing  by 
which  the  pride  of  other  authors  might  be  gratified,  or  favour  gained  ; 
no  exchange  of  praise,  nor  solicitation  of  support."  Johnson's  Works, 
vii.  142.  See  post,  Feb.  1766,  for  Johnson's  opinion  on  'courting  great 
men.' 

a  sure, 


Aetat. 29.]  Appleby  ScJiool.  153 

a  sure,  though  moderate  income  for  his  life ;  and  an  offer 
being  made  to  him  of  the  mastership  of  a  school',  provided 

'  In  a  billet  written  by  Mr.  Pope  in  the  following  year,  this  school 
is  said  to  have  been  in  Shropshire ;  but  as  it  appears  from  a  letter 
from  Earl  Gower,  that  the  trustees  of  it  were  '  some  worthy  gentlemen 
in  Johnson's  neighbourhood,'  I  in  my  lirst  edition  suggested  that  Pope 
must  have,  by  mistake,  written  Shropshire,  instead  of  Staffordshire. 
But  I  have  since  been  obliged  to  Mr.  Spearing,  attorney-at-law,  for 
the  following  information : — '  William  Adams,  formerly  citizen  and 
haberdasher  of  London,  founded  a  school  at  Newport,  in  the  county 
of  Salop,  by  deed  dated  27th  November,  1656,  by  which  he  granted 
"  the  yearly  sum  of  sixty  pounds  to  such  able  and  learned  schoolmaster 
from  time  to  time,  being  of  godly  life  and  conversation,  who  should 
have  been  educated  at  one  of  the  Universities  of  Oxford  or  Cam- 
bridge, and  had  taken  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  and  was  well  read 
in  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues,  as  should  be  nominated  from  time  to 
time  by  the  said  William  Adams,  during  his  life,  and  after  the  decease 
of  the  said  William  Adams,  by  the  Governours  {namely,  the  Master 
and  Wardens  of  the  Haberdashers'  Company  of  the  City  of  London) 
and  their  successors."  The  manour  and  lands  out  of  which  the  reve- 
nues for  the  maintenance  of  the  school  were  to  issue  are  situate  at 
Kttighton  and  Adbaston,  in  the  cotmty  of  Stafford.'  From  the  fore- 
going account  of  this  foundation,  particularly  the  circumstances  of 
the  salary  being  sixty  pounds,  and  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  being 
a  requisite  qualification  in  the  teacher,  it  seemed  probable  that  this 
was  the  school  in  contemplation ;  and  that  Lord  Gower  erroneously 
supposed  that  the  gentlemen  who  possessed  the  lands,  out  of  which 
the  revenues  issued,  were  trustees  of  the  charity. 

Such  was  probable  conjecture.  But  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  May 
1793,  there  is  a  letter  from  Mr.  Henn,  one  of  the  masters  of  the  school 
of  Appleby,  in  Leicestershire,  in  which  he  writes  as  follows : — 

'  I  compared  time  and  circumstance  together,  in  order  to  discover 
whether  the  school  in  question  might  not  be  this  of  Appleby.  Some 
of  the  trustees  at  that  period  were  "  worthy  gentlemen  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Litchfield."  Appleby  itself  is  not  far  from  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Litchfield.  The  salary,  the  degree  requisite,  together 
with  the  time  of  e/ccfion,  all  agreeing  with  the  statutes  of  Appleby. 
The  election,  as  said  in  the  letter,  "could  not  be  delayed  longer  than 
the  nth  of  next  month,"  which  was  the  i  ith  of  September,  just  three 
months  after  the  annual  audit-day  of  Appleby  school,  which  is  always 
on  the  nth  of  June;  and  the  statutes  enjoin  iie  itllins  prceceptorum 
electio  diutiits  tribus  mensibus  nioraretur,  etc. 

'These  I  thought  to  be  convincing  proofs  that  my  conjecture  was 

he 


154    ^cirl  Gower's  letter  of  rccommetidatiim.  [a.d.  1738. 

he  could  obtain  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  Dr.  Adams 
was  applied  to,  by  a  common  friend,  to  know  whether  that 
could  be  granted  him  as  a  favour  from  the  University  of  Ox- 
ford. But  though  he  had  made  such  a  figure  in  the  literary 
world,  it  was  then  thought  too  great  a  favour  to  be  asked. 

Pope,  without  any  knowledge  of  him  but  from  his  London, 
recommended  him  to  Earl  Gower,  who  endeavoured  to  pro- 
cure for  him  a  degree  from  Dublin,  by  the  following  letter  to 
a  friend  of  Dean  Swift : 

'  Sir, 

'  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson  (authour  of  London,  a  satire,  and  some 
other  poetical  pieces)  is  a  native  of  this  country,  and  much  re- 
spected by  some  worthy  gentlemen  in  his  neighbourhood,  who  are 
trustees  of  a  charity  school  now  vacant ;  the  certain  salary  is  sixty 
pounds  a  year,  of  which  they  are  desirous  to  make  him  master ; 
but,  unfortunately,  he  is  not  capable  of  receiving  their  bounty, 
which  ivould  tnake  hitn  happy  for  life,  by  not  being  a  Master  of  Arts ; 
which,  by  the  statutes  of  this  school,  the  master  of  it  must  be. 

'  Now  these  gentlemen  do  me  the  honour  to  think  that  I  have 
interest  enough  in  you,  to  prevail  upon  you  to  write  to  Dean  Swift, 
to  persuade  the  University  of  Dublin  to  send  a  diploma  to  me, 
constituting  this  poor  man   Master   of  Arts   in   their  University. 

not  ill-founded,  and  that,  in  a  future  edition  of  that  book,  the  circum- 
stance might  be  recorded  as  fact. 

'  But  what  banishes  every  shadow  of  doubt  is  the  Minute-book  of 
the  school,  which  declares  the  headmastership  to  be  at  t/iat  time 

VACANT." 

I  cannot  omit  returning  thanks  to  this  learned  gentleman  for  the 
very  handsome  manner  in  which  he  has  in  that  letter  been  so  good  as 
to  speak  of  this  work.     Boswell. 

Hawkins  {Life,  p.  6i)  says  that  'Johnson  went  to  Appleby  in  Aug. 
1738,  and  offered  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  mastership.'  The 
date  of  1738  seems  to  be  Hawkins's  inference.  If  Johnson  went  at 
all,  it  was  in  1739.  Pope,  the  friend  of  Swift,  would  not  of  course 
have  sought  Lord  Gower's  influence  with  Swift.  He  applied  to  his 
lordship,  no  doubt,  as  a  great  midland-county  landowner,  likely  to  have 
influence  with  the  trustees.  Why,  when  the  difficulty  about  the  degree 
of  M.A.  was  discovered.  Pope  was  not  asked  to  solicit  Swift  cannot  be 
known.  See  post,  beginning  of  1780  in  Boswell's  account  of  the 
Life  of  Swift. 

They 


Aetat.  29.]      yokusoHS  wisJi  to  practise  law.  155 

They  highly  extol  the  man's  learning  and  probity;  and  will  not  be 
persuaded,  that  the  University  will  make  any  difficulty  of  confer- 
ring such  a  favour  upon  a  stranger,  if  he  is  recommended  by  the 
Dean.  They  say  he  is  not  afraid  of  the  strictest  examination, 
though  he  is  of  so  long  a  journey ;  and  will  venture  it,  if  the  Dean 
thinks  it  necessary;  choosing  rather  to  die  upon  the  road,  than  be 
starved  to  death  in  tratislating  for  booksellers ;  which  has  been  his 
only  subsistence  for  some  time  past. 

*  1  fear  there  is  more  difficulty  in  this  affair,  than  those  good- 
natured  gentlemen  apprehend ;  especially  as  their  election  cannot 
be  delayed  longer  than  the  nth  of  next  month.  If  you  see  this 
matter  in  the  same  light  that  it  appears  to  me,  I  hope  you  will  burn 
this,  and  pardon  me  for  giving  you  so  much  trouble  about  an  im- 
practicable thing ;  but,  if  you  think  there  is  a  probability  of  obtain- 
ing the  favour  asked,  I  am  sure  your  humanity,  and  propensity  to 
relieve  merit  in  distress,  will  incline  you  to  serve  the  poor  man, 
without  my  adding  any  more  to  the  trouble  I  have  already  given 
you,  than  assuring  you  that  I  am,  with  great  truth.  Sir, 

'  Your  faithful  servant, 

'  GOWKR. 

'Trentham,  Aug.  i,  1739.' 

It  was,  perhaps,  no  small  disappointment  to  Johnson  that 
this  respectable  application  had  not  the  desired  effect ;  yet 
how  much  reason  has  there  been,  both  for  himself  and  his 
country,  to  rejoice  that  it  did  not  succeed,  as  he  might  prob- 
ably have  wasted  in  obscurity  those  hours  in  which  he  after- 
wards produced  his  incomparable  works. 

About  this  time  he  made  one  other  effort  to  emancipate 
himself  from  the  drudgery  of  authorship.  He  applied  to  Dr. 
Adams,  to  consult  Dr.  Smalbroke  of  the  Commons,  whether  a 
person  might  be  permitted  to  practise  as  an  advocate  there, 
without  a  doctor's  degree  in  Civil  Law.  '  I  am  (said  he)  a 
total  stranger  to  these  studies ;  but  whatever  is  a  profession, 
and  maintains  numbers,  must  be  within  the  reach  of  com- 
mon abilities,  and  some  degree  of  industry.'  Dr.  Adams  was 
much  pleased  with  Johnson's  design  to  employ  his  talents  in 
that  manner,  being  confident  he  would  have  attained  to  great 
eminence.  And,  indeed,  I  cannot  conceive  a  man  better 
qualified  to  make  a  distinguished  figure  as  a  lawyer;   for.  he 

would 


156  Paul  Sarpis  History.  [a.d.  1T38. 

would  have  brought  to  his  profession  a  rich  store  of  various 
knowledge,  an  uncommon  acuteness,  and  a  command  of  lan- 
guage, in  which  few  could  have  equalled,  and  none  have 
surpassed  him'.  He  who  could  display  eloquence  and  wit 
in  defence  of  the  decision  of  the  House  of  Commons  upon 
Mr.  Wilkes's  election  for  Middlesex",  and  of  the  unconstitu- 
tional taxation  of  our  fellow-subjects  in  America\  must  have 
been  a  powerful  advocate  in  any  cause.  But  here,  also,  the 
want  of  a  degree  was  an  insurmountable  bar. 

He  was,  therefore,  under  the  necessity  of  jjcrsevcring  in 
that  course,  into  which  he  had  been  forced  ;  and  we  find, 
that  his  proposal  from  Greenwich  to  Mr.  Cave,  for  a  transla- 
tion of  Father  Paul  Sarpi's  Histor}',  was  accepted'. 

Some  sheets  of  this  translation  were  printed  off,  but 
the  design  was  dropt ;   for  it  happened,  oddly  enough,  that 

'  'What  a  pity  it  is,  Sir,'  said  to  hini  Sir  William  Scott,  afterwards 
Lord  Stowell,  '  that  you  did  not  follow  the  profession  of  the  law  !  You 
might  have  been  Lord  Chancellor  of  Great  Britain.'  Post,  K^rW  17, 
1778. 

"  See  post,  beginning  of  1770. 

^  ScG^  post,  March  21,  1775. 

*  In  the  JVfcl'iy  Miscellany.  October  21,  1738,  there  appeared  the 
following  advertisement : — 'Just  published,  Proposals  for  printing  the 
History  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  translated  from  the  Italian  of  Father 
Paul  Sarpi ;  with  the  Authour's  Life,  and  Notes  theological,  historical, 
and  critical,  from  the  French  edition  of  Dr.  Le  Courayer.  To  which 
are  added.  Observations  on  the  Histor)%  and  Notes  and  Illustrations 
from  various  Authours,  both  printed  and  manuscript.  By  S.  Johnson. 
I.  The  work  will  consist  of  two  hundred  sheets,  and  be  two  volumes 
in  quarto,  printed  on  good  paper  and  letter.  2.  The  price  will  be  i8j. 
each  volume,  to  be  paid,  half-a-guinea  at  the  delivery  of  the  first 
volume,  and  the  rest  at  the  delivery  of  the  second  volume  in  sheets. 
3,  Two-pence  to  be  abated  for  every  sheet  less  than  two  hundred.  It 
may  be  had  on  a  large  paper,  in  three  volumes,  at  the  price  of  three 
guineas ;  one  to  be  paid  at  the  time  of  subscribing,  another  at  the  de- 
livery of  the  first,  and  the  rest  at  the  delivery  of  the  other  volumes. 
The  work  is  now  in  the  press,  and  will  be  diligently  prosecuted.  Sub- 
scriptions are  taken  in  by  Mr.  Dodsley  in  Pail-Mall,  Mr.  Rivington  in 
St.  Paul's  Church-yard,  by  E.  Cave  at  St.  John's  Gate,  and  the  Trans- 
lator, at  No.  6,  in  Castle-street,  by  Cavendish-square.'     BOSWELL. 

another 


Aetat. 29.]  Mr.  Caves  msinuation.  157 

another  person  of  the  name  of  Samuel  Johnson,  Librarian  of 
St.  Martin's  in  the  Fields,  and  Curate  of  that  parish,  cnga^^ed 
in  the  same  undertaking,  and  was  patronised  by  the  Clergy, 
particularly  by  Dr.  Pearce,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Rochester, 
Several  light  skirmishes  passed  between  the  rival  translators, 
in  the  newspapers  of  the  day;  and  the  consequence  was,  that 
they  destroyed  each  other,  for  neither  of  them  went  on  with 
the  work.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted,  that  the  able  per- 
formance of  that  celebrated  genius  Fra  Paolo,  lost  the 
advantage  of  being  incorporated  into  British  literature  by 
the  masterly  hand  of  Johnson. 

I  have  in  my  possession,  by  the  favour  of  Mr.  John  Nich- 
ols, a  paper  in  Johnson's  hand- writing,  entitled  'Account 
between  Mr.  Edward  Cave  and  Sam.  Johnson,  in  relation  to 
a  version  of  Father  Paul,  &c.  begun  August  the  2d,  1738;' 
by  which  it  appears,  that  from  that  day  to  the  21st  of  April, 
1739,  Johnson  received  for  this  work  ^^"49  'js.  in  sums  of  one, 
two,  three,  and  sometimes  four  guineas  at  a  time,  most  fre- 
quently two.  And  it  is  curious  to  observe  the  minute  and 
scrupulous  accuracy  with  which  Johnson  has  pasted  upon  it 
a  slip  of  paper,  which  he  has  entitled  '  Small  Account,'  and 
which  contains  one  article,  '  Sept.  9th,  Mr.  Cave  laid  down 
2s.  6d!  There  is  subjoined  to  this  account,  a  list  of  some 
subscribers  to  the  work,  partly  in  Johnson's  hand -writing, 
partly  in  that  of  another  person ;  and  there  follows  a  leaf  or 
two  on  which  are  written  a  number  of  characters  which  have 
the  appearance  of  a  short  hand,  which,  perhaps,  Johnson  was 
then  trying  to  learn. 

*To  Mr.  Cave. 

'  Wednesday. 
'Sir, 

'  I  did  not  care  to  detain  your  servant  while  I  wrote  an  answer 
to  your  letter,  in  which  you  seem  to  insinuate  that  I  had  promised 
more  than  1  am  ready  to  perform.  If  I  have  raised  your  expecta- 
tions by  any  thing  that  may  have  escaped  my  memory,  I  am  sorry  ; 
and  if  you  remind  me  of  it,  shall  thank  you  for  the  favour.  If  I 
made  fewer  alterations  than  usual  in  the  Debates,  it  was  only 
because   there    appeared,  and  still    appears   to  be,  less   need  of 

alteration. 


158  His  literary  work.  [a.d.  1738. 

alteration.  The  verses  to  Lady  Firebrace '  may  be  had  when  you 
please,  for  you  know  that  such  a  subject  neither  deser\'es  much 
thought,  nor  requires  it. 

'  The  Chinese  Stories^  may  be  had  folded  down  when  you  please 
to  send,  in  which  I  do  not  recollect  that  you  desired  any  altera- 
tions to  be  made. 

'  An  answer  to  another  query  1  am  very  willing  to  write,  and  had 
consulted  with  yovi  about  it  last  night  if  there  had  been  time ;  for 
1  think  it  the  most  proper  way  of  inviting  such  a  correspondence 
as  may  be  an  advantage  to  the  paper,  not  a  load  upon  it. 

'As  to  the  Prize  Verses,  a  backwardness  to  determine  their  de- 
grees of  merit  is  not  peculiar  to  me.  You  may,  if  you  please,  still 
have  what  1  can  say ;  but  I  shall  engage  with  little  spirit  in  an 
affair,  which  I  shall  hardly  end  to  my  own  satisfaction,  and  certainly 
not  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  parties  concerned'. 

*  As  to  P'ather  Paul,  I  have  not  yet  been  just  to  my  proposal,  but 
have  met  with  impediments,  which,  I  hope,  are  now  at  an  end  ;  and 
if  you  find  the  progress  hereafter  not  such  as  you  have  a  right  to 
expect,  you  can  easily  stimulate  a  negligent  translator. 

'  If  any  or  all  of  these  have  contributed  to  your  discontent,  1  will 
endeavour  to  remove  it ;  and  desire  you  to  propose  the  question 
to  which  you  wish  for  an  answer. 

'  I  am,  Sir, 

'  Your  humble  servant, 

'  S.^.M.  Johnson.' 

'To  Mr.  Cave. 

•Sm,  ^"""""^ 

'  I  am  pretty  much  of  your  opinion,  that  the  Commentary  can- 
not be  prosecuted  with  any  appearance  of  success  ;  for  as  the 
names  of  the  authours  concerned  are  of  more  weight  in  the  per- 
formance than  its  own  intrinsick  merit,  the  publick  will  be  soon 
satisfied  with  it.  And  I  think  the  Examen  should  be  pushed 
forward  with  the  utmost  expedition.     Thus,  "This  day,  &c.,  An 

'  They  afterwards  appeared  in  the  Gent.  Mai^-.  [viii.4861  with  this 
title —  Verses  to  Lady  Firebrace,  at  Bury  Assizes.     Bt )SWK1,i,. 

*  Du  Halde's  Description  of  China  was  then  publishing  by  Mr.  Cave 
in  weekly  numbers,  whence  Johnson  was  to  select  pieces  for  the  ^vix- 
bellishment  of  the  i'l/<?f,'^rtr/>/<'.     Nichols.     Boswell. 

'  The  premium  of  forty  pounds  proposed  for  the  best  poem  on  the 
Divine  Attributes  is  here  alluded  to.     Nichols.     Boswell. 

Examen 


Aetat.  29.]  '  Impyansus!  159 

Examen  of  Mr.  Pope's  Essay,  &:c.,  containing  a  succinct  Account 
of  the  Philosophy  of  Mr.  Leibnitz  on  the  System  of  the  Fatalists, 
with  a  Confutation  of  their  Opinions,  and  an  Illustration  of  the 
Doctrine  of  Free-will ;"  [with  what  else  you  think  proper]. 

'  It  will,  above  all,  be  necessary  to  take  notice,  that  it  is  a  thing 
distinct  from  the  Commentary. 

'  I  was  so  far  from  imagining  they  stood  still',  that  I  conceived 
them  to  have  a  good  deal  before-hand,  and  therefore  was  less  anx- 
ious in  providing  them  more.  But  if  ever  they  stand  still  on  my 
account,  it  must  doubtless  be  charged  to  me  ;  and  whatever  else 
shall  be  reasonable,  I  shall  not  oppose  ;  but  beg  a  suspense  of 
judgment  till  morning,  when  I  must  entreat  you  to  send  me  a  dozen 
proposals,  and  you  shall  then  have  copy  to  spare. 

'  I  am,  Sir, 

'  Your's,  impransus^ , 

'  Sam.  Johnson. 

*  Pray  muster  up  the  Proposals  if  you  can,  or  let  the  boy  recall 
them  from  the  booksellers.' 

But  although  he  corresponded  with  Mr.  Cave  concerning  a 
translation  of  Crousaz's  Examen  of  Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  and 
gave  advice  as  one  anxious  for  its  success,  I  was  long  ago 
convinced  by  a  perusal  of  the  Preface,  that  this  translation 
was  erroneously  ascribed  to  him  ;  and  I  have  found  this 
point  ascertained,  beyond  all  doubt,  by  the  following  article 
in  Dr.  Birch's  Manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum  : 

'  Elis/E  Carter/E.  S.  p.  D.  Thomas  Birch. 
'  Versionem  tuam  Examinis  Crousaziani  jam  perlegi.     Summam 
styli  et  elcgafitiam,  et  in  re  difficillima  proprietatem,  admiratus. 
^ Dabatn  Novemb.  27°  I738^' 

Indeed  Mrs.  Carter  has  lately  acknowledged  to  Mr.  Sew- 
ard, that  she  was  the  translator  of  the  Examen. 

'  The  Compositors  in  Mr.  Cave's  printing-office,  who  appear  by  this 
letter  to  have  then  waited  for  copy.     Nichols.     Boswell. 

"  Twenty  years  later,  when  he  was  lodging  in  the  Temple,  he  had 
fasted  for  two  days  at  a  time ;  '  he  had  drunk  tea,  but  eaten  no  bread  ; 
this  was  no  intentional  fasting,  but  happened  just  in  the  course  of  a 
literary  life."     Boswell's  Hebrides,  Oct.  4,  1773.     See  post,  Aug.  5,  1763. 

*  Birch  MSS.  Brit.  Mus.  4323.     Boswell. 

It 


i6o  Mr.  Macbean.  [a.d.  1738. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  Johnson's  last  quoted  letter  to  Mr. 
Cave  concludes  with  a  fair  confession  that  he  had  not  a  din- 
ner; and  it  is  no  less  remarkable,  that,  though  in  this  state 
of  want  himself,  his  benevolent  heart  was  not  insensible  to 
the  necessities  of  an  humble  labourer  in  literature,  as  appears 
from  the  very  next  letter : 

'To  Mr.  Cave. 

\No  date.] 
'  Dear  Sir, 

*  You  may  remember  I  have  formerly  talked  with  you  about  a 

Military  Dictionary.     The  eldest  Mr.  Macbean',  who  was  with  Mr. 

Chambers'\  has  very  good  materials  for  such  a  work,  which  I  have 

seen,  and  will  do  it  at  a  very  low  rate''.      I  think  the  terms  of  War 

and  Navigation  might  be  comprised,  with  good  explanations,  in 

one  8vo.  Pica,  which  he  is  willing  to  do  for  twelve  shillings  a  sheet, 

to  be  made  up  a  guinea  at  the  second  impression.     If  you  think 

on  it,  I  will  wait  on  you  with  him. 

'  I  am,  Sir, 

'  Your  humble  servant, 

'  Saim.  Johnson. 

'  Pray  lend  me  Topsel  on  Animals*.' 

I  must  not  omit  to  mention,  that  this  Mr.  Macbean  was  a 
native  of  Scotland. 

In  the  Gcntlciiiaii  s  Alagaaiue  of  this  year,  Johnson  gave  a 
Life  of  Father  Paul  ;*  and  he  wrote  the  Preface  to  the  Vol- 
ume\  which,  though  prefixed  to  it  when  bound,  is  always 
published  with  the  Appendix,  and  is  therefore  the  last  com- 
position belonging  to  it.     The  ability  and  nice  adaptation 


'  Stcpost,  under  Dec.  30,  1747.  and  Oct.  24,  1780. 

'  See  pos/,  1750. 

'  This  book  was  published.  Boswell.  I  have  not  been  able  to 
find  it. 

*  T/ie  Historic  of  four-footed  beasts  and  serpents.  By  Edward  Top- 
Sell.  London,  1607.  Isaac  Walton,  in  the  Cotnplete  Angler,  more  than 
once  quotes  Topsel.  See  p.  99  in  the  reprint  of  the  tirst  edition,  where 
he  says : — '  As  our  Topsel  hath  with  great  diligence  observed.' 

'  In  this  preface  he  describes  some  pieces  as  '  deserving  no  other 
fate  than  to  be  hissed,  torn,  and  forgotten."    Johnson's  Works,  v.  346. 

with 


Aetat.29.]  BoETHIUS  DE   CoNSOLATIONE.  l6l 


with  which  he  could  draw  up  a  prefatory  address,  was  one 
of  his  peculiar  excellencies. 

It  appears  too,  that  he  paid  a  friendly  attention  to  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Carter ;  for  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Cave  to  Dr.  Birch, 
November  28,  this  year,  I  find  'Mr.  Johnson  advises  Miss  C. 
to  undertake  a  translation  of  BoetJiiiis  dc  Cons,  because  there 
is  prose  and  verse,  and  to  put  her  name  to  it  when  published.' 
This  advice  was  not  followed  ;  probably  from  an  apprehen- 
sion that  the  work  was  not  sufficiently  popular  for  an  exten- 
sive sale.  How  well  Johnson  himself  could  have  executed 
a  translation  of  this  philosophical  poet,  we  may  judge  from 
the  following  specimen  which  he  has  given  in  the  Rambler: 
{Motto  to  No.  7.) 

'  O  qui  perpetiia  mundum  ratione  gubernas, 

Terr  arum  coelique  sator! 

Disjice  ter rente  nebulas  et  ponder  a  molts, 
Atqiie  tuo  splendore  mica .'     Tu  namque  sereiiu?n, 
Tu  requies  tranquilla  piis.      Te  ceniere  finis, 
Principium,  vector,  dux,  semita,  terminus,  idmi.^ 

'  O  thou  whose  power  o'er  moving  worlds  presides. 
Whose  voice  created,  and  whose  wisdom  guides, 
On  darkling  man  in  pure  effulgence  shine, 
And  cheer  the  clouded  mind  with  light  divine. 
'Tis  thine  alone  to  calm  the  pious  breast. 
With  silent  confidence  and  holy  rest ; 
From  thee,  great  God !  we  spring,  to  thee  we  tend. 
Path,  motive,  guide,  original,  and  end  !' 

In  1739,  beside  the  assistance  which  he  gave  to  the  Parlia- 
mentary Debates,  his  writings  in  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine^ 
were,  'The  Life  of  Boerhaave,'*  in  which  it  is  to  be  observed, 
that  he  discovers  that  love  of  chymistry'  which  never  forsook 
him;  'An  appeal  to  the  publick  in  behalf  of  the  Editor  ;'f 

'  The  letter  to  Mr.  Urban  in  the  January  number  of  this  year  (p.  3) 
is,  I  beheve,  by  Johnson. 

'  '  Yet  did  Boerhaave  not  suffer  one  branch  of  science  to  withdraw 
his  attention  from  others ;  anatomy  did  not  withhold  him  from  chy- 
mistr}',  nor  chymistry,  enchanting  as  it  is,  from  the  study  of  botany.' 
Johnson's  Works,  vi.  276.     'Sitt  post,  under  Sept.  9,  1779. 

I.— II  'An 


1 62  Abridgments.  [a. u.  1739. 

'An  Address  to  the  Reader  ;'t  'An  Epigram  both  in  Greek 
and  Latin  to  Eliza','-  and  also  English  verses  to  her*;*  and, 
'A  Greek  Epigram  to  Dr.  Birch'.'*  It  has  been  erroneously- 
supposed,  that  an  Essay  published  in  that  Magazine  this  year, 
entitled  '  The  Apotheosis  of  Milton,'  was  written  by  Johnson ; 
and  on  that  supposition  it  has  been  improperly  inserted  in 
the  edition  of  his  works  by  the  Booksellers,  after  his  decease. 
Were  there  no  positive  testimony  as  to  this  point,  the  style 
of  the  performance,  and  the  name  of  Shakspeare  not  being 
mentioned  in  an  Essay  professedly  reviewing  the  principal 
English  poets,  would  ascertain  it  not  to  be  the  production  of 
Johnson.  But  there  is  here  no  occasion  to  resort  to  internal 
evidence  ;  for  my  Lord  Bishop  of  Salisbury  (Dr.  Douglas)  has 
assured  me,  that  it  was  written  by  Guthrie.  His  separate  pub- 
lications were\  'A  Complete  Vindication  of  the  Licensers  of 

'  Gent.  Mag.  viii.  210,  and  Johnson's  Works,  i.  170. 

'  What  these  verses  are  is  not  clear.  On  p.  372  there  is  an  epigram 
Ad  Elisam  Popi  Horto  Lauros  carpentcin.  of  which  on  p.  429  there  are 
three  translations.     That  by  Urbanus  may  be  Johnson's. 

^  lb.  p.  654,  and  Johnson's  Works,  i.  170.  On  p.  211  of  this  volume 
of  the  Gent.  Mag.  is  given  the  epigram  '  To  a  lady  who  spoke  in  de- 
fence of  liberty.'     This  was  '  Molly  Aston  '  mentioned  ante,  p.  96. 

*  To  the  year  1739  belongs  Considerations  on  the  Case  of  Dr. 
T{rapp\s  Sermons.  Abridged  by  Mr.  Cave,  1739;  first  published  in 
the  Gent.  Mag.  of  July  1787.  (See  post  under  Nov.  5,  1784,  note.) 
Cave  had  begun  to  publish  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  an  abridgment  of  four 
sermons  preached  by  Trapp  against  Whitefield.  He  stopped  short  in 
the  publication,  deterred  perhaps  by  the  threat  of  a  prosecution  for  an 
infringement  of  copy -right.  'On  all  difficult  occasions,'  writes  the 
Editor  in  1787, '  Johnson  was  Cave's  oracle  ;  and  the  paper  now  before 
us  was  certainly  written  on  that  occasion.'  Johnson  argues  that 
abridgments  are  not  only  legal  but  also  justifiable.  '  The  design  of 
an  abridgment  is  to  benefit  mankind  by  facilitating  the  attainment  of 
knowledge  .  .  .  for  as  an  incorrect  book  is  lawfully  criticised,  and  false 
assertions  justly  confuted  ...  so  a  tedious  volume  may  no  less  lawfully 
be  abridged,  because  it  is  better  that  the  proprietors  should  suffer 
some  damage,  than  that  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  should  be  ob- 
structed with  unnecessary  difficulties,  and  the  valuable  hours  of  thou- 
sands thrown  away.'  Johnson's  Works,  v.  465.  Whether  we  have 
here  Johnson's  own  opinion  cannot  be  known.  He  was  writing  as 
Cave's  advocate.    See  also  Boswell's  //ebrides,  Aug.  20,  1773. 

the 


Aetat.30.]  M ARMOR   NoRFOLCIENSE.  1 63 

the  Stage,  from  the  malicious  and  scandalous  Aspersions  of 
Mr.  Brooke,  Authour  of  Gustavus  Vasa,'*  being  an  ironical 
Attack  upon  them  for  their  Suppression  of  that  Tragedy'; 
and,  '  Marmor  Norfolciense  ;  or  an  Essay  on  an  ancient  pro- 
phetical Inscription  in  monkish  Rhyme,  lately  discovered 
near  Lynne  in  Norfolk,  by  Probus  Britannicus.'*  In  this 
performance,  he,  in  a  feigned  inscription,  supposed  to  have 
been  found  in  Norfolk,  the  county  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole, 
then  the  obnoxious  prime»- minister  of  this  country,  inveighs 
against  the  Brunswick  succession,  and  the  measures  of  gov- 
ernment consequent  upon  it'^  To  this  supposed  prophecy 
he  added  a  Commentary,  making  each  expression  apply  to 
the  times,  with  warm  Anti-Hanoverian  zeal. 

This  anonymous  pamphlet,  I  believe,  did  not  make  so 
much  noise  as  was  expected,  and,  therefore,  had  not  a  very 
extensive  circulation^  Sir  John  Hawkins  relates',  that, 
'warrants  were  issued,  and  messengers  employed  to  appre- 
hend the  authour  ;  who,  though  he  had  forborne  to  subscribe 
his  name  to  the  pamphlet,  the  vigilance  of  those  in  pursuit 
of  him  had  discovered  ;'  and  we  are  informed,  that  he  lay 
concealed  in  Lambeth-marsh  till  the  scent  after  him  grew 
cold.  This,  however,  is  altogether  without  foundation  ;  for 
Mr.  Steele,  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury,  who 
amidst  a  variety  of  important  business,  politely  obliged  me 
with   his  attention   to  my  inquiry,  informed   me,  that   '  he 


'  In  his  Life  of  Thomsoji  Johnson  writes  : — '  About  this  time  the  act 
was  passed  for  licensing  plays,  of  which  the  first  operation  was  the 
prohibition  of  Gustin'us  Vasa,  a  tragedy  of  Mr.  Brooke,  whom  the 
public  recompensed  by  a  very  liberal  subscription  ;  the  ne.xt  was  the 
refusal  of  Edward  and  Elconora,  offered  by  Thomson.  It  is  hard  to 
discover  why  either  play  should  have  been  obstructed.'  Johnson's 
Works,  viii.  373. 

'  The  Inscription  and  the  Translation  of  it  are  preserved  in  the  Lon- 
don Magazine  for  the  year  1739,  p.  244.  Boswell.  See  Johnson's 
Worh,  vi.  89. 

•  It  is  a  little  heavy  in  its  humour,  and  does  not  compare  well  with 
the  like  writings  of  Swift  and  the  earlier  wits. 

♦  Hawkins's  Johnson,  p.  72. 

directed 


164         Reprint  of  M armor  Norfolciense.  [a.d.  1739. 

directed  every  possible  search  to  be  made  in  the  records  of 
the  Treasury  and  Secretary  of  State's  Oflfice,  but  could  find 
no  trace  whatever  of  any  warrant  having  been  issued  to  ap- 
prehend the  authour  of  this  pamphlet.' 

Marmor  Norfolciense  became  exceedingly  scarce,  so  that 
I,  for  many  years,  endeavoured  in  vain  to  procure  a  copy  of 
it.  At  last  I  was  indebted  to  the  malice  of  one  of  Johnson's 
numerous  petty  adversaries,  who,  in  1775,  published  a  new 
edition  of  it,  'with  Notes  and  a  dedication  to  SAMUEL 
JoilxsoN,  LL.D.  by  Tkibunus  ;'  in  which  some  puny 
scribbler  invidiously  attempted  to  found  upon  it  a  charge  of 
inconsistency  against  its  authour,  because  he  had  accepted 
of  a  pension  from  his  present  Majesty,  and  had  written  in 
support  of  the  measures  of  government.  As  a  mortification 
to  such  impotent  malice,  of  which  there  are  so  many  in- 
stances towards  men  of  eminence,  I  am  happy  to  relate,  that 
this  telujn  imbellc'  did  not  reach  its  exalted  object,  till  about 
a  year  after  it  thus  appeared,  when  1  mentioned  it  to  him, 
supposing  that  he  knew  of  the  re-publication.  To  my  sur- 
prize, he  had  not  yet  heard  of  it.  He  requested  me  to  go 
directly  and  get  it  for  him,  which  I  did.  He  looked  at  it 
and  laughed,  and  seemed  to  be  much  diverted  with  the 
feeble  efforts  of  his  unknown  adversary,  who,  I  hope,  is  alive 
to  read  this  account.  '  Now  (said  he)  here  is  somebody  who 
thinks  he  has  vexed  me  sadly;  yet,  if  it  had  not  been  for 
you,  you  rogue,  I  should  probably  never  have  seen  it.' 

As  Mr.  Pope's  note  concerning  Johnson,  alluded  to  in  a 
former  page,  refers  both  to  his  London,  and  his  Mar^nor  Nor- 
folciense, I  have  deferred  inserting  it  till  now.  I  am  indebted 
for  it  to  Dr.  Percy,  the  Bishop  of  Dromore,  who  permitted 
me  to  copy  it  from  the  original  in  his  possession.  It  was 
presented  to  his  Lordship  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  to  whom 
it  was  given  by  the  son  of  Mr.  Richardson  the  painter, 
the  person  to  whom  it  is  addressed.     I  have  transcribed  it 

'  '  Sic  fatus  senior,  telumque  imbelle  sine  ictu 

Conjecit.' 
'So  spake  the  elder,  and   cast  forth  a  toothless  spear  and  vain. 
Morris,  JE^neids,  ii.  544. 

with 


Aetat.30.]  ^Paper-sparing  Pope.  165 

with  minute  exactness,  that  the  pecuHar  mode  of  writing, 
and  imperfect  spelling  of  that  celebrated  poet,  may  be  ex- 
hibited to  the  curious  in  literature.  It  justifies  Swift's 
epithet  of  '  paper-sparing  Pope','  for  it  is  written  on  a  slip 
no  larger  than  a  common  message-card,  and  was  sent  to 
Mr.  Richardson,  along  with  the  Imitation  of  Juvenal. 

'This  is  imitated  by  one  Johnson  who  put  in  for  a  Publick- 
school  in  Shropshire",  but  was  disappointed.  He  has  an  infirmity 
of  the  convoilsive  kind,  that  attacks  him  sometimes,  so  as  to  make 
him  a  sad  Spectacle.  Mr.  P.  from  the  Merit  of  this  Work  which 
was  all  the  knowledge  he  had  of  him  endeavour'd  to  serve  him 
without  his  own  application  ;  cS:  wrote  to  my  L^  gore,  but  he  did 
not  succeed.  Mr.  Johnson  published  afterw^s  another  Poem  in 
Latin  with  Notes  the  whole  very  Humerous  call'd  the  Norfolk 
Prophecyl'  ,p , 

Johnson  had  been  told  of  this  note  ;  and  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds informed  him  of  the  compliment  which  it  contained, 

>  '  Get  all  your  verses  printed  fair. 

Then  let  them  well  be  dried  ; 
And  Curl!  must  have  a  special  care 

To  leave  the  margin  wide. 
Lend  these  to  paper -sparing  Pope: 

And  when  he  sits  to  write. 
No  letter  with  an  envelope 
Could  give  him  more  delight.' 

.Idvicc  to  the  Griib-Strcet  Verse-  Writers. 
(Swift's  Works.  1803,  xi.  32.)  Nichols,  in  a  note  on  this  passage,  says: 
— 'The  original  copy  of  Pope's  Homer  is  almost  entirely  written  on 
the  covers  of  letters,  and  sometimes  between  the  lines  of  the  letters 
themselves.'  Johnson,  in  his  Life  0/ Pope,  writes  : — '  Of  Pope's  domes- 
tic character  frugality  was  a  part  eminently  remarkable  .  .  .  This  gen- 
eral care  must  be  universally  approved :  but  it  sometimes  appeared  in 
petty  artifices  of  parsimony,  such  as  the  practice  of  writing  his  com- 
positions on  the  back  of  letters,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  remaining  copy 
of  the  Iliad,  by  which  perhaps  in  five  years  five  shillings  were  saved.' 
Johnson's  Works,  viii.  312. 
■t  See  note,  p.  153.     Bcswell. 

*  The  Marmor  Norfolciense,  price  one  shilling,  is  advertised  in  the 
Gent.  Mag.  for  1739  fp.  220)  among  the  books  for  April. 

but, 


1 66  yohnsons  tricks  of  body.  [a.d.  1739. 

but,  from  delicacy,  avoided  shewing  him  the  paper  itself. 
When  Sir  Joshua  observed  to  Johnson  that  he  seemed  very 
desirous  to  see  Pope's  note,  he  answered,  *  Who  would  not 
be  proud  to  have  such  a  man  as  Pope  so  solicitous  in  in- 
quiring about  him?' 

The  infirmity  to  which  Mr.  Pope  alludes,  appeared  to  mc 
also,  as  I  have  elsewhere '  observed,  to  be  of  the  convulsive 
kind,  and  of  the  nature  of  that  distemper  called  St.  Vitus's 
dance ;  and  in  this  opinion  I  am  confirmed  by  the  descrip- 
tion which  Sydenham  gives  of  that  disease.  '  This  disorder 
is  a  kind  of  convulsion.  It  manifests  itself  by  halting  or  un-, 
steadiness  of  one  of  the  legs,  which  the  patient  draws  after 
him  like  an  ideot.  If  the  hand  of  the  same  side  be  applied 
to  the  breast,  or  any  other  part  of  the  body,  he  cannot  keep 
it  a  moment  in  the  same  posture,  but  it  will  be  drawn  into  a 
different  one  by  a  convulsion,  notwithstanding  all  his  efforts 
to  the  contrary.'  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  however,  was  of  a 
different  opinion,  and  favoured  me  with  the  following  paper: 

'Those  motions  or  tricks  of  Dr.  Johnson  are  improperly  called 
convulsions^.     He  could  sit  motionless,  when  he  was  told  so  to  do, 

'  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  3rd  edit.  p.  8.     BoswKl.l,. 

'  According  to  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, '  Every  person  who  knew  Dr. 
Johnson  must  have  observed  that  the  moment  he  was  left  out  of  the 
conversation,  whether  from  his  deafness  or  from  whatever  cause,  but 
a  few  minutes  without  speaking  or  listening,  his  mind  appeared  to 
be  preparing  itself.  He  fell  into  a  reverie  accompanied  with  strange 
antic  gestures ;  but  this  he  never  did  when  his  mind  was  engaged  by 
the  conversation.  These  were  therefore  improperly  called  convul- 
sions, which  imply  involuntary  contortions  ;  whereas,  a  word  addressed 
to  him,  his  attention  was  recovered.  Sometimes,  indeed,  it  would  be 
near  a  minute  before  he  would  give  an  answer,  looking  as  if  he  laboured 
to  bring  his  mind  to  bear  on  the  question.'  (Taylor's  Reynolds,  ii.  456). 
'I  still,  however,  think,' wrote  Boswell,  'that  these  gestures  were  in- 
voluntary; for  surely  had  not  that  been  the  case,  he  would  have  re- 
strained them  in  the  public  streets '  (Boswell's  Hebrides,  under  date 
of  Aug.  II,  1773,  note).  Dr.  T.  Campbell,  in  his  Diary  of  a  Visit  to 
England,  p.  33,  writing  of  Johnson  on  March  16,  1775.  says  : — '  He  has 
the  aspect  of  an  idiot,  without  the  faintest  ray  of  sense  gleaming  from 
any  one  feature — with  the  most  awkward  garb,  and  unpowdered  grey 

as 


Aeut.  30.]  His  dread  of  solitude.  167 

as  well  as  any  other  man ;  my  opinion  is  that  it  proceeded  from  a 
habit  which  he  had  indulged  himself  in,  of  accompanying  his 
thoughts  with  certain  untoward  actions,  and  those  actions  always 
appeared  to  me  as  if  they  were  meant  to  reprobate  some  part  of 
his  past  conduct.  Whenever  he  was  not  engaged  in  conversation, 
such  thoughts  were  sure  to  rush  into  his  mind  ;  and,  for  this  rea- 
son, any  company,  any  employment  whatever,  he  preferred  to  being 
alone'.     The  great  business  of  his  life  (he  said)  was  to  escape 

wig,  on  one  side  only  of  his  head — he  is  for  ever  dancing  the  devil's 
jig,  and  sometimes  he  makes  the  most  driveling  effort  to  whistle  some 
thought  in  his  absent  paroxysms.'  Miss  Burney  thus  describes  him 
when  she  first  saw  him  in  1778: — 'Soon  after  we  were  seated  this 
great  man  entered.  I  have  so  true  a  veneration  for  him  that  the  very 
sight  of  him  inspires  me  with  delight  and  reverence,  notwithstanding 
the  cruel  infirmities  to  which  he  is  subject ;  for  he  has  almost  per- 
petual convulsive  movements,  either  of  his  hands,  lips,  feet,  or  knees, 
and  sometimes  of  all  together.'  Mine.  UArblay's  Diary,  i.  63.  See 
post,  under  March  30,  1783,  Boswell's  note  on  Johnson's  peculiarities. 

*  '  Solitude,' wrote  Reynolds, 'to  him  was  horror;  nor  would  he 
ever  trust  himself  alone  but  when  employed  in  writing  or  reading. 
He  has  often  begged  me  to  go  home  with  him  to  prevent  his  being 
alone  in  the  coach.  Any  company  was  better  than  none ;  by  which 
he  connected  himself  with  many  mean  persons  whose  presence  he 
could  command.'  Taylor's  Reynolds,  ii.455.  Johnson  writing  to  Mrs. 
Thrale,  said  : — '  If  the  world  be  worth  winning,  let  us  enjoy  it ;  if  it  is 
to  be  despised,  let  us  despise  it  by  conviction.  But  the  world  is  not 
to  be  despised  but  as  it  is  compared  with  something  better.  Company 
is  in  itself  better  than  solitude,  and  pleasure  better  than  indolence.' 
Piozzi  Letters,  i.  242.  In  The  Idler,  No.  32,  he  wrote  :  — '  Others  are 
afraid  to  be  alone,  and  amuse  themselves  by  a  perpetual  succession 
of  companions ;  but  the  difference  is  not  great ;  in  solitude  we  have 
our  dreams  to  ourselves,  and  in  company  we  agree  to  dream  in  con- 
cert. The  end  sought  in  both  is  forgetfulness  of  ourselves.'  In  The 
Rambler,  No.  5,  he  wrote : — '  It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  position  which 
will  seldom  deceive,  that  when  a  man  cannot  bear  his  own  company, 
there  is  something  wrong.  He  must  fly  from  himself,  either  because 
he  feels  a  tediousness  in  life  from  the  equipoise  of  an  empty  mind  .  .  . 
or  he  must  be  afraid  of  the  intrusion  of  some  unpleasing  ideas,  and, 
perhaps,  is  struggling  to  escape  from  the  remembrance  of  a  loss,  the 
fear  of  a  calamity,  or  some  other  thought  of  greater  horror.' 

Cowper,  whose  temperament  was  in  some  respects  not  unlike  John- 
son's, wrote  : — 'A  vacant  hour  is  my  abhorrence  ;  because,  when  I  am 

from 


1 68  Hogarth  meets  yohnson.  [a.d.  1739. 


from  himself ;  this  disposition  he  considered  as  the  disease  of  his 
mind,  which  nothing  cured  but  company. 

'  One  instance  of  his  absence  and  particularity,  as  it  is  character- 
istick  of  the  man,  may  be  worth  relating.  When  he  and  I  took  a 
journey  together  into  the  West,  we  visited  the  late  Mr.  Banks,  of 
Dorsetshire;  the  conversation  turning  upon  pictures,  which  John- 
son could  not  well  see,  he  retired  to  a  corner  of  the  room,  stretch- 
ing out  his  right  leg  as  far  as  he  could  reach  before  him,  then 
bringing  up  his  left  leg,  and  stretching  his  right  further  on.  The 
old  gentleman  observing  him,  went  up  to  him,  and  in  a  very  cour- 
teous manner  assured  him,  that  though  it  was  not  a  new  house, 
the  Hooring  was  perfectly  safe.  I'he  Doctor  started  from  his  rev- 
erie, like  a  person  waked  out  of  his  sleep,  but  spoke  not  a  word.' 

While  we  arc  on  this  subject,  my  readers  may  not  be  dis- 
pleased with  another  anecdote,  communicated  to  me  by  the 
same  friend,  from  the  relation  of  Mr.  Hogarth. 

Johnson  used  to  be  a  pretty  frequent  visitor  at  the  house 
of  Mr.  Richardson,  authour  of  Clarissa,  and  other  novels  of 
extensive  reputation.  Mr.  Hogarth  came  one  day  to  see 
Richardson,  soon  after  the  execution  of  Dr.  Cameron,  for 
having  taken  arms  for  the  house  of  Stuart  in  1745-6;  and 
being  a  warm  partisan  of  George  the  Second,  he  observed  to 
Richardson',  that  certainly  there  must  have  been  some  very 
unfavourable  circumstances  lately  discovered  in  this  particu- 
lar case,  which  had  induced  the  King  to  approve  of  an  ex- 
ecution for  rebellion  so  long  after  the  time  when  it  was 
committed,  as  this  had  the  appearance  of  putting  a  man  to 
death  in  cold  blood'\  and  was  very  unlike  his  Majesty's  usual 

not  occupied,  I  suffer  under  the  whole  infiuence  of  my  unhappy  tem- 
perament.'    Southey's  Coivper,  vi.  146. 

'  Richardson  was  of  the  same  way  of  thinking  as  Hogarth.  Writing 
of  a  speech  made  at  the  Oxford  Commemoration  of  1754  by  the  Jaco- 
bite Dr.  King  (see  post,  Feb.  1 7  5  5),  he  said : — '  There  cannot  be  a  greater 
instance  of  the  lenity  of  the  government  he  abuses  than  his  pestilent 
harangues  so  publicly  made  with  impunity  furnishes  (.v/r)  all  his  read- 
ers with.' — Rich.  Corresp.  ii.  197. 

'^  Impartial  posterity  may,  perhaps,  be  as  little  inclined  as  Dr.  John- 
son was  to  justify  the  uncommon  rigour  exercised  in  the  case  of  Dr. 
Archibald  Cameron.     He  was  an  amiable  and  truly  honest  man ;  and 

clemency. 


Aetat.  30.]  George  the  Second's  cruelly.  169 

clemency.  While  he  was  talking,  he  perceived  a  person 
standing  at  a  window  in  the  room,  shaking  his  head,  and 
rolling  himself  about  in  a  strange  ridiculous  manner.  He 
concluded  that  he  was  an  ideot,  whom  his  relations  had  put 
under  the  care  of  Mr.  Richardson,  as  a  very  good  man.  To 
his  great  surprize,  however,  this  figure  stalked  forwards  to 
where  he  and  Mr.  Richardson  were  sitting,  and  all  at  once 
took  up  the  argument,  and  burst  out  into  an  invective  against 
George  the  Second,  as  one,  who,  upon  all  occasions,  was 
unrelenting   and   barbarous' ;    mentioning   many    instances, 

his  offence  was  owing  to  a  generous,  though  mistaken  principle  of 
duty.  Being  obliged,  after  1746,  to  give  up  his  profession  as  a  physi- 
cian, and  to  go  into  foreign  parts,  he  was  honoured  with  the  rank  of 
Colonel,  both  in  the  French  and  Spanish  service.  He  was  a  son  of  the 
ancient  and  respectable  family  of  Cameron,  of  Lochiel ;  and  his  brother, 
who  was  the  Chief  of  that  brave  clan,  distinguished  himself  by  mod- 
eration and  humanity,  while  the  Highland  army  marched  victorious 
through  Scotland.  It  is  remarkable  of  this  Chief,  that  though  he  had 
earnestly  remonstrated  against  the  attempt  as  hopeless,  he  was  of  too 
heroick  a  spirit  not  to  venture  his  life  and  fortune  in  the  cause,  when 
personally  asked  by  him  whom  he  thought  his  prince.     Boswell. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  states,  in  his  Introduction  to  Rcdgaitntlct,  that  the 
government  of  George  II  were  in  possession  of  sufficient  evidence 
that  Dr.  Cameron  had  returned  to  the  Highlands,  not,  as  he  alleged 
on  his  trial,  for  family  affairs  merely,  but  as  the  secret  agent  of  the 
Pretender  in  a  new  scheme  of  rebellion  :  the  ministers,  however, 
preferred  trying  this  indefatigable  partisan  on  the  ground  of  his  un- 
deniable share  in  the  insurrection  of  1745,  rather  than  rescuing  them- 
selves and  their  master  from  the  charge  of  harshness,  at  the  expense 
of  making  it  universally  known,  that  a  fresh  rebellion  had  been  in 
agitation  so  late  as  1752.  Lockhart.  He  was  executed  on  June  7, 
1753.  Gent.  Mag.  xxiii.  292.  Lord  Campbell  {Lives  of  the  Chancellors, 
V.  109)  says: — '  I  regard  his  execution  as  a  wanton  atrocity."  Horace 
Walpole,  however,  inclined  to  the  belief  that  Cameron  was  engaged 
m  a  new  scheme  of  rebellion.     Walpole's  Memoirs  of  George  II,  i.  333. 

'  Horace  Walpole  says  that  towards  convicts  under  sentence  of 
death  'George  II's  disposition  in  general  was  merciful,  if  the  offence 
was  not  murder.'  He  mentions,  however,  a  dreadful  exception,  when 
the  King  sent  to  the  gallows  at  Oxford  a  young  man  who  had  been 
'guilty  of  a  most  trifling  forgery,'  though  he  had  been  recommended 
to  mercy  by  the  judge,  who  '  had  assured  him  his  pardon.'     Mercy 

particularly, 


lyo  Johnsons  writings  in   1740.         [a. p.  1740. 

particularly,  that  when  an  officer  of  high  rank  had  been  ac- 
quitted by  a  Court  Martial,  George  the  Second  had  with  his 
own  hand,  struck  his  name  off  the  list.  In  short,  he  displayed 
such  a  power  of  eloquence,  that  Hogarth  looked  at  him  with 
astonishment,  and  actually  imagined  that  this  idcot  had 
been  at  the  moment  inspired.  Neither  Hogarth  nor  John- 
son were  made  known  to  each  other  at  this  interview'. 

1740'' :  .'K  TAT.  31.] — In  1740  he  wrote  for  the  Gcntlcuiatis 
Magazine  the  '  Preface ','t  '  Life  of  Sir  Francis  Drake,'*  and 
the  first  parts  of  those  of  '  Admiral  Blake", '''•■  and  of  '  Philip 
Baretier',*-'  both  which  he  finished  the  following  year.     He 

was  refused,  merely  because  the  Judge,  Willes,  'was  attached  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales.'  It  is  very  likely  that  this  was  one  of  Johnson's 
'  instances,'  as  it  had  happened  about  four  years  earlier,  and  as  an  ac- 
count of  the  young  man  had  been  published  by  an  Oxonian.  Wal- 
pole's  Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of  George  //,  i.  175. 

'  It  is  strange  that  when  Johnson  had  been  sixteen  years  in  London 
he  should  not  be  known  to  Hogarth  by  sight.  '  Mr.  Hogarth,'  writes 
Mrs.  Piozzi,  '  was  used  to  be  very  earnest  that  I  should  obtain  the  ac- 
quaintance, and  if  possible,  the  friendship  of  Dr.  Johnson,  "  whose  con- 
versation was  to  the  talk  of  other  men,  like  Titian's  painting  compared 
to  Hudson's,"  he  said.  ...  Of  Dr.  Johnson,  when  my  father  and  he  were 
talking  together  about  him  one  day,  "That  man,"  says  Hogarth,  "is 
not  contented  with  believing  the  Bible,  but  he  fairly  resolves,  I  think, 
to  believe  nothing  but  the  Bible."  '     Piozzi's  Ancc.  p.  136. 

'  On  October  29  of  this  year  James  Boswell  was  born. 

*  In  this  preface  is  found  the  following  lively  passage  : — '  The  Ro- 
man Gazetteers  are  defective  in  several  material  ornaments  of  style. 
They  never  end  an  article  with  the  mystical  hint,  t/iis  occasions  great 
speculation.  They  seem  to  have  been  ignorant  of  such  engaging  in- 
troductions as,  1VC  hear  it  is  strongly  reported ;  and  of  that  ingenious, 
but  thread-bare  excuse  for  a  downright  lie,  //  wants  confirmation.' 

*  The  Lives  of  Blake  and  Drake  were  certainly  written  with  a  polit- 
ical aim.  The  war  with  Spain  was  going  on.  and  the  Tory  party  was 
doing  its  utmost  to  rouse  the  country  against  the  Spaniards.  It  was 
'  a  time.'  according  to  Johnson. '  when  the  nation  was  engaged  in  a 
war  with  an  enemy,  whose  insults,  ravages,  and  barbarities  have  long 
called  for  vengeance.'     Johnson's  Works,  vi.  293. 

'  Barretier's  childhood  surpassed  even  that  of  J.  S.  Mill.  At  the 
age  of  nine  he  was  master  of  live  languages,  Greek  and  Hebrew  being 
two  of  them.     '  In  his  twelfth  year  he  applied  more  particularly  to 

also 


Aetat.  31.]  Epitaph  on  Philips.  171 

also  wrote  an  '  Essay  on  Epitaphs '/f  and  an  '  Epitaph  on 
Philips,  a  Musician,'*  which  was  afterwards  published  with 
some  other  pieces  of  his,  in  Mrs.  Williams's  Miscellanies. 
This  Epitaph  is  so  exquisitely  beautiful,  that  I  remember 
even  Lord  Kames^  strangely  prejudiced  as  he  was  against 
Dr.  Johnson,  was  compelled  to  allow  it  very  high  praise.  It 
has  been  ascribed  to  Mr.  Garrick,  from  its  appearing  at  first 
with  the  signature  G  ;  but  I  have  heard  Mr.  Garrick  declare, 
that  it  was  written  by  Dr.  Johnson,  and  give  the  following 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  it  was  composed.  Johnson 
and  he  were  sitting  together;  when,  amongst  other  things, 
Garrick  repeated  an  Epitaph  upon  this  Philips  by  a  Dr. 
Wilkes,  in  these  words  : 

'  Exalted  soul !  whose  harmony  could  please 
The  love-sick  virgin,  and  the  gouty  ease ; 
Could  jarring  discord,  like  Amphion,  move 
To  beauteous  order  and  harmonious  love ; 
Rest  here  in  peace,  till  angels  bid  thee  rise. 
And  meet  thy  blessed  Saviour  in  the  skies.' 

Johnson  shook  his  head  at  these  common-place  funereal 
lines,  and  said  to  Garrick, '  I  think,  Davy,  I  can  make  a  better,* 
Then,  stirring  about  his  tea  for  a  little  while,  in  a  state  of  med- 
itation, he  almost  extempore  produced  the  following  verses: 

'  Philips,  whose  touch  harmonious  could  remove 
The  pangs  of  guilty  power  or"  hapless  love ; 
Rest  here,  distress'd  by  poverty  no  more, 
Here  find  that  calm  thou  gav'st  so  oft  before ; 

the  study  of  the  fathers.'  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  published  Anti- 
Arte7notuus  ;  snv  hiithim  evangelii  S.  Joannis  adversiis  Ariemonium 
vindicahim.  The  same  year  the  University  of  Halle  offered  him  the 
degree  of  doctor  in  philosophy.  '  His  theses,  or  philosophical  posi- 
tions, which  he  printed,  ran  through  several  editions  in  a  few  weeks." 
He  was  a  deep  student  of  mathematics,  and  astronomy  was  his  fa- 
vourite subject.  His  health  broke  down  under  his  studies,  and  he  died 
in  1740  in  the  twentieth  year  of  his  age.  Johnson's  Works,  vi.  376. 
'  He  wrote  also  xxWjifbA  Dissertatio7i  on  the  Epitaphs  written  by  Pope. 

*  See /^j/,^  Oct.  16,  1769. 

*  In  the  original  and.     Gent.  Mag.  x.  464.     The  title  of  this  poem 

Sleep, 


172  Epigram  on  Gibber.  [a. d.  1741, 

Sleep,  undisturb'd,  within  this  peaceful  shrine, 
Till  angels  wake  thee  with  a  note  like  thine' !' 

At  the  same  time  that  Mr.  Garrick  favoured  me  with  this 
anecdote,  he  repeated  a  very  pointed  Epigram  by  Johnson, 
on  George  the  Second  and  Colley  Gibber,  which  has  never 
yet  appeared,  and  of  which  1  know  not  the  exact  date\  Dr. 
Johnson  afterwards  gave  it  to  me  himself^ : 

as  there  given  is : — '  An  epitaph  upon  the  celebrated  Claudy  Philips, 
Musician,  who  died  very  poor.' 

'  The  epitaph  of  Phillips  is  in  the  porch  of  Wolverhampton  Church. 
The  prose  part  of  it  is  curious  : — 

'  Near  this  place  lies 

Charles  Claudius  Phillips, 

Whose  absolute  contempt  of  riches 

and  inimitable  performances  upon  the  violin 

luaik-  iiiin  the  admiration  of  all  that  knew  him. 

He  was  born  in  Wales, 

made  the  tour  of  Europe, 

and,  after  the  experience  of  both  kinds  of  fortune, 

Died  in  1732.' 

Mr.  Garrick  appears  not  to  have  recited  the  verses  correctly,  the 

original  being  as  follows  : — 

'  Exalted  soul,  thy  imrious  sounds  could  please 
The  love-sick  virgin  and  the  gouty  ease ; 
Could  jarring  crcnvds,  like  old  Amphion,  move 
To  beauteous  order  and  harmonious  love ; 
Rest  here  in  peace,  till  Angels  bid  thee  rise. 
And  meet  thy  Saviour's  consort  in  the  skies.'     Blakewav. 
Consort  is  defined  in  Johnson's  D/ctwnary  as  a  Jiuniber  of  instru- 
ments playitig  togetJier. 

"  1  have  no  doubt  that  it  was  written  in  1741  ;  for  the  second  line  is 
clearly  a  parody  of  a  line  in  the  chorus  of  Cibber's  Birthday  Ode  for 
that  year.     The  chorus  is  as  follows  : 

'  While  thou  our  Master  of  the  Main 
Revives  Eliza's  glorious  reign. 
The  great  Plantagenets  look  down, 
And  see  your  race  adorn  your  crown. 

Gent.  Mag.  xi.  549. 
In  the  Life  of  Barretier  Johnson  has  also  this  fling  at  George  II : 
— '  Princes  are  commonly  the  last  by  whom  merit  is  distinguished." 
Johnson's  Wor'ks,  vi.  381. 

'  See  Boswell's  Hebrides.  Oct.  23  and  Nov,  21,  1773. 

'Augustus 


Aetat.  32.]  One  of  CromwelVs  speeches.  173 

'  Augustus  still  survives  in  Maro's  strain, 
And  Spenser's  verse  prolongs  Eliza's  reign ; 
Great  George's  acts  let  tuneful  Gibber  sing ; 
For  Nature  form'd  the  Poet  for  the  King.' 

In  1 741'  he  wrote  for  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine'  \\\q.  Pre- 
face,'* '  Conclusion  of  his  lives  of  Drake  and  Baretier,'f  '  A 
free  translation  of  the  Jests  of  Hierocles',  with  an  Introduc- 
tion ;'f  and,  I  think,  the  following  pieces  :  '  Debate  on  the 
Proposal  of  Parliament  to  Cromwell,  to  assume  the  Title  of 
King,  abridged,  modified,  and  digested'  ;'t  '  Translation  of 
Abbe  Guyon's  Dissertation  on  the  Amazons  ;'f  '  Translation 
of  Fontenelle's  Panegyrick  on  Dr.  Morin.'f  Two  notes  upon 
this  appear  to  me  undoubtedly  his.     He  this  year,  and  the 

'  Hester  Lynch  Salusbury.  afterwards  Mrs.  Thrale,  and  later  on  Mrs. 
Piozzi,  was  born  on  Jan.  27,  1741. 

^  This  piece  is  certainly  not  by  Johnson.  It  contains  more  than 
one  ungrammatical  passage.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  he  wrote 
such  a  sentence  as  the  following  :^'  Another  having  a  cask  of  wine 
sealed  up  at  the  top,  but  his  servant  boring  a  hole  at  the  bottom  stole 
the  greatest  part  of  it  away ;  sometime  after,  having  called  a  friend  to 
taste  his  wine,  he  found  the  vessel  almost  empty,'  &c. 

'  Mr.  Carlyle,  by  the  use  of  the  term  '  Imaginary  Editors '  (  Crom- 
luell's  Letters  and  Speeches,  iii.  229),  seems  to  imply  that  he  does  not 
hold  with  Boswell  in  assigning  this  piece  to  Johnson.  I  am  inclined 
to  think,  nevertheless,  that  Boswell  is  right.  If  it  is  Johnson's  it  is 
doubly  interesting  as  showing  the  method  which  he  often  followed 
in  writing  the  Parliamentary  Debates.  When  notes  were  given  him, 
while  for  the  most  part  he  kept  to  the  speaker's  train  of  thoughts,  he 
dealt  with  the  language  much  as  it  pleased  him.  In  the  Gent.  Mag. 
Cromwell  speaks  as  if  he  were  wearing  a  flowing  wig  and  were  ad- 
dressing a  Parliament  of  the  days  of  George  II.  He  is  thus  made  to 
conclude  Speech  xi.: — 'For  my  part,  could  I  multiply  my  person  or 
dilate  my  power,  I  should  dedicate  myself  wholly  to  this  great  end,  in 
the  prosecution  of  which  I  shall  implore  the  blessing  of  God  upon 
your  counsels  and  endeavours.'  Gent.  Mag.  xi.  100.  The  following 
are  the  words  which  correspond  to  this  in  the  original : — '  If  I  could 
help  you  to  many,  and  multiply  myself  into  many,  that  would  be  to 
ser\'e  you  in  regard  to  settlement.  .  .  .  But  I  shall  pray  to  (xod  Almighty 
that  He  would  direct  you  to  do  what  is  according  to  His  will.  And 
this  is  that  poor  account  I  am  able  to  give  of  myself  in  this  thing.' 
Carlyle's  Crotmiiell,  iii.  255. 

two 


174  Caves  Parliamentary  Debates,     [a.d.  1741. 

two  following,  wrote  the  Parliamentary  Debates.  He  told 
me  himself,  that  he  was  the  sole  composer  of  them  for  those 
three  years  only.  He  was  not,  however,  precisely  exact  in 
his  statement,  which  he  mentioned  from  hasty  recollection  ; 
for  it  is  sufficiently  evident,  that  his  composition  of  them 
began  November  19,  1740,  and  ended  February  23,  1742-3'. 

It  appears  from  some  of  Cave's  letters  to  Dr.  Birch,  that 
Cave  had  better  assistance  for  that  branch  of  his  Magazine, 
than  has  been  generally  supposed  ;  and  that  he  was  indefat- 
igable in  getting  it  made  as  perfect  as  he  could. 

Thus,  2ist  July,  1735.  'I  trouble  you  with  the  inclosed, 
because  you  said  you  could  easily  correct  what  is  here  given 

for  Lord  C Id's*  speech.     I  beg  you  will  do  so  as  soon  as 

you  can  for  me,  because  the  month  is  far  advanced.' 

And  15th  July,  1737.  'As  you  remember  the  debates  so 
far  as  to  perceive  the  speeches  already  printed  are  not  exact, 
T  beg  the  favour  that  you  will  peruse  the  inclosed,  and,  in 
the  best  manner  your  memory  will  serve,  correct  the  mis- 
taken passages,  or  add  anything  that  is  omitted.     I  should 

be  very  glad  to  have  something  of  the  Duke  of  N le's' 

speech,  which  would  be  particularly  of  service. 

*  A  gentleman  has  Lord  Bathurst's  speech  to  add  some- 
thing to.' 

And  July  3,  1744.  '  You  will  see  what  stupid,  low,  abomi- 
nable stuff  is  put^  upon  your  noble  and  learned  friend's^ 
character,  such  as  I  should  quite  reject,  and  endeavour  to 
do  something  better  towards  doing  justice  to  the  character. 
But  as  I  cannot  expect  to  attain  my  desires  in  that  re- 
spect, it  would  be  a  great  satisfaction,  as  well  as  an  honour 
to  our  work  to  have  the  favour  of  the  genuine  speech.  It 
is  a  method  that  several  have  been  pleased  to  take,  as  I 
could  show,  but  I  think  myself  under  a  restraint.  I  shall 
say  so  far,  that  I  have  had  some  by  a  third  hand,  which  I 

'  See  Appendix  A. 

*  Lord  Chesterfield. 

'  Duke  of  Newcastle. 

*  I  suppose  in  another  compilation  of  the  same  kind.     Boswell. 

*  Doubtless,  Lord  Hardwick.     Boswell. 

understood 


Aetat. 32.]     yoluisoiis  Parliamentary  Debates.  175 

understood  well  enough  to  come  from  the  first ;  others  by 
penny-post',  and  others  by  the  speakers  themselves,  who  have 
been  pleased  to  visit  St.  John's  Gate,  and  show  particular 
marks  of  their  being  pleased'.' 

There  is  no  reason,  I  believe,  to  doubt  the  veracity  of 
Cave.  It  is,  however,  remarkable,  that  none  of  these  letters 
are  in  the  years  during  which  Johnson  alone  furnished  the 
Debates,  and  one  of  them  is  in  the  very  year  after  he  ceased 
from  that  labour,  Johnson  told  me  that  as  soon  as  he  found 
that  the  speeches  were  thought  genuine,  he  determined  that 
he  would  write  no  more  of  them  ;  for  '  he  would  not  be  ac- 
cessary to  the  propagation  of  falsehood.'  And  such  was  the 
tenderness  of  his  conscience,  that  a  short  time  before  his 
death  he  expressed  his  regret  for  having  been  the  authour 
of  fictions,  which  had  passed  for  realities\ 

He  nevertheless  agreed  with  me  in  thinking,  that  the  de- 
bates which  he  had  framed  were  to  be  valued  as  orations 
upon  questions  of  publick  importance.  They  have  accord- 
ingly been  collected  in  volumes,  properly  arranged,  and  rec- 
ommended to  the  notice  of  parliamentary  speakers  by  a 
preface,  written  by  no  inferior  hand\  I  must,  howexer, 
observe,  that  although  there  is  in  those  debates  a  wonderful 
store  of  political  information,  and  very  powerful  eloquence, 

*  The  delivery  of  letters  by  the  penny-post  '  was  originally  confined 
to  the  cities  of  London  and  Westminster,  the  borough  of  Southwark 
and  the  respective  suburbs  thereof.'  In  1801  the  postage  was  raised 
to  two-pence.  The  term  '  suburbs  '  must  have  had  a  very  limited  sig- 
nification, for  it  was  not  till  1831  that  the  limits  of  this  delivery  were 
extended  to  all  places  within  three  miles  of  the  General  Post  Office. 
Ninth  Report  of  the  Cofnfiu'sswners  of  the  Post  Office,  1837,  p.  4. 

'  Birch's  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum,  4302.     Boswell. 

^  See  post,  Dec.  1784,  in  Nichols's  Anecdotes.  If  we  may  trust  Haw- 
kins, it  is  likely  that  Johnson's  'tenderness  of  conscience  '  cost  Cave  a 
good  deal ;  for  he  writes  that,  while  Johnson  composed  the  Debates, 
the  sale  of  the  Magazine  increased  from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  cop- 
ies a  month.  '  Cave  manifested  his  good  fortune  by  buying  an  old 
coach  and  a  pair  of  older  horses.'     Hawkins's  Johnson,  p.  123. 

*  I  am  assured  that  the  editor  is  Mr.  George  Chalmers,  whose  com- 
mercial works  are  well  known  and  esteemed.     Boswell. 

I  cannot 


1 76  Negotiations  for  Irene.  [a.d.  1742. 


I  cannot  agree  that  they  exhibit  the  manner  of  each  particu- 
lar speaker,  as  Sir  John  Hawkins  seems  to  think.  But,  in- 
deed, what  opinion  can  we  have  of  his  judgement,  and  taste 
in  publick  speaking,  who  presumes  to  give,  as  the  character- 
isticks  of  two  celebrated  orators, '  the  deep-mouthed  rancour 
of  Pulteney',  and  the  yelping  pertinacity  of  Pitt".' 

This  year  I  find  that  his  tragedy  of  Irene  had  been  for 
some  time  ready  for  the  stage,  and  that  liis  necessities  made 
him  desirous  of  getting  as  much  as  he  could  for  it,  without 
delay  ;  for  there  is  the  following  letter  from  Mr.  Cave  to  Dr. 
]5irch.  in  the  same  volume  of  manuscripts  in  the  British 
Museum,  from  which  I  copied  those  above  (juoted.  They 
were  most  obligingly  pointed  out  to  me  by  Sir  William 
Musgrave,  one  of  the  Curators  of  that  noble  repository. 

'Sept.  9,  1 741. 

*  I  have  put  Mr.  Johnson's  play  into  Mr.  Gray's'  hands,  in  order 
to  sell  it  to  him,  if  he  is  inclined  to  buy  it ;  but  1  doubt  whether 
he  will  or  not.  He  would  dispose  of  the  copy,  and  whatever  ad- 
vantage may  be  made  by  acting  it.  Would  your  society  \  or  any 
gentleman,  or  body  of  men  that  you  know,  take  such  a  bargain  ? 
He  and  I  are  very  unfit  to  deal  with  theatrical  persons.  Fleet- 
wood was  to  have  acted  it  last  season,  but  Johnson's  diffidence 
or    "    prevented  it.' 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  Irene  was  not  brought  into 
publick  notice  till  Garrick  was  manager  of  Drury-lane 
theatre. 

'  The  characteristic  of  Pulteney 's  orator)^  is  thus  given  in  Hazlitt's 
Northcotes  Cojtversations  (p.  288): — 'Old  Mr.  Tolcher  used  to  say 
of  the  famous  Pulteney — "  My  Lord  Bath  always  speaks  in  blank 
verse." ' 

'  Hawkins's  Life  of  Johnson,  p.  100.     BoswELL. 

^  A  bookseller  of  London.     Boswell. 

*  Not  the  Royal  Society;  but  the  Society  for  the  encouragement 
of  learning,  of  which  Dr.  Birch  was  a  leading  member.  Their  object 
was  to  assist  authors  in  printing  expensive  works.  It  existed  from 
about  1735  to  1746,  when  having  incurred  a  considerable  debt,  it  was 
dissolved.    Boswell. 

*  There  is  no  erasure  here,  but  a  mere  blank ;  to  fill  up  which  may 
be  an  exercise  for  ingenious  conjecture.     Boswell. 

1742; 


\etat.33.]  BiBLIOTHECA    HaRLEIANA.  1 7/ 

1742  :  ^TAT.  33.] — In  1742'  he  wrote  for  the  Gentleman  s 
A fa^azine the '  Preface/f  the '  ParHamentary Debates,'*  *  Essay- 
on  the  Account  of  the  conduct  of  the  Duchess  of  Marl- 
borough,'* then  the  popular  topick  of  conversation.  This 
•  Essay '  is  a  short  but  masterly  performance.  We  find  him 
in  No.  13  of  his  Rambler,  censuring  a  profligate  sentiment  in 
that  '  Account* ;'  and  again  insisting  upon  it  strenuously  in 
conversation'.  '  An  account  of  the  Life  of  Peter  Burman,'* 
I  believe  chiefly  taken  from  a  foreign  publication  ;  as,  indeed, 
he  could  not  himself  know  much  about  Burman  ;  'Additions 
to  his  Life  of  Baretier  ;'*  '  The  Life  of  Sydenham,'*  after- 
wards prefixed  to  Dr.  Swan's  edition  of  his  works ;  '  Propo- 
sals for  Printing  Bibliotheca  Harleiana,  or  a  Catalogue  of 
the  Library  of  the  Earl  of  Oxford*.'*  His  account  of  that 
celebrated  collection  of  books,  in  which  he  displays  the  im- 
portance to  literature  of  what  the  French  call  a  catalogue 
raisotuic,  when  the  subjects  of  it  are  extensive  and  various, 
and  it  is  executed  with  ability,  cannot  fail  to  impress  all  his 
readers  with  admiration  of  his  philological  attainments.  It 
was  afterwards  prefixed  to  the  first  volume  of  the  Catalogue, 
in  which  the  Latin  accounts  of  books  were  written  by  him. 

'  Johnson,  writing  to  Dr.  Taylor  on  June  10,  1742,  says  : — *  I  propose 
to  get  Charles  of  Sweden  ready  for  this  winter,  and  shall  therefore, 
as  I  imagine,  be  much  engaged  for  some  months  with  the  dramatic 
writers  into  whom  I  have  scarcely  looked  for  many  years.  Keep  Irene 
close,  you  may  send  it  back  at  your  leisure.'  Azotes  and  Queries,  6th 
S.,  v.  303.  Charles  of  Sweden  must  have  been  a  play  which  he  pro- 
jected. 

'  The  profligate  sentiment  was,  that  '  to  tell  a  secret  to  a  friend  is 
no  breach  of  fidelity,  because  the  number  of  persons  trusted  is  not 
multiplied,  a  man  and  his  friend  being  virtually  the  same.'  Rambler, 
No.  13. 

'  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  3rd  edit.  p.  167.  [Sept.  10.  1773.] 
BOSWELL. 

*  This  piece  contains  a  passage  in  honour  of  some  great  critic. 
'  May  the  shade,  at  least,  of  one  great  English  critick  rest  without 
disturbance ;  and  may  no  man  presume  to  insult  his  memory,  who 
wants  his  learning,  his  reason,  or  his  wit.'  Johnson's  Works,  v.  182. 
Bentley  had  died  on  July  14  of  this  year,  and  there  can  be  little  ques- 
tion that  Bentley  is  meant. 

I.— 12  He 


I  yS  Osborne  the  bookseller.  [a.d.  1742. 


He  was  employed  in  this  business  by  Mr.  Thomas  Osborne 
the  bookseller,  who  purchased  the  library  for  13,000/.,  a  sum 
which  Mr.  Oldys'  says,  in  one  of  his  manuscripts,  was  not 
more  than  the  binding  of  the  books  had  cost ;  yet,  as  Dr. 
Johnson  assured  me,  the  slowness  of  the  sale  was  such, 
that  there  was  not  much  gained  by  it.  It  has  been  con- 
fidently related,  with  many  embellishments,  that  Johnson 
one  day  knocked  Osborne  down  in  his  shop,  with  a  folio, 
and  put  his  foot  upon  his  neck.  The  simple  truth  I  had 
from  Johnson  himself.  '  Sir,  he  was  impertinent  to  me,  and 
I  beat  him.  But  it  was  not  in  his  shop :  it  was  in  my  own 
chamber^' 

A  very  diligent  observer  may  trace  him  where  we  should 
not  easily  suppose  him  to  be  found.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
he  wrote  the  little  abridgment  entitled  '  Foreign  History,' 
in  the  MagarAnc  for  December.  To  prove  it,  I  shall  quote 
the  Introduction.  'As  this  is  that  season  of  the  year  in 
which  Nature  may  be  said  to  command  a  suspension  of  hos- 
tilities, and  which  seems  intended,  by  putting  a  short  stop  to 
violence  and  slaughter,  to  afford  time  for  malice  to  relent, 
and  animosity  to  subside ;  we  can  scarce  expect  any  other 
accounts  than  of  plans,  negotiations  and  treaties,  of  proposals 
for  peace,  and  preparations  for  war.'  As  also  this  passage : 
'  Let  those  who  despise  the  capacity  of  the  Swiss,  tell  us 
by  what  wonderful  policy,  or  by  what  happy  conciliation  of 
interests,  it  is  brought  to  pass,  that  in  a  body  made  up  of 

'  See  post,  end  of  1 744. 

*  '  There  is  nothing  to  tell,  dearest  lady,  but  that  he  was  insolent 
and  I  beat  him,  and  that  he  was  a  blockhead  and  told  of  it,  which  I 
should  never  have  done.  ...  I  have  beat  many  a  fellow,  but  the  rest 
had  the  wit  to  hold  their  tongues.'  Piozzi's  Ancc.  p.  233.  In  the  Life 
of  Pope  Johnson  thus  mentions  Osborne  : — *  Pope  was  ignorant  enough 
of  his  own  interest  to  make  another  change,  and  introduced  Osborne 
contending  for  the  prize  among  the  booksellers  \  Dunctad,  ii.  167]. 
Osborne  was  a  man  entirely  destitute  of  shame,  without  sense  of  any 
disgrace  but  that  of  poverty.  .  .  .  The  shafts  of  satire  were  directed 
equally  in  vain  against  Gibber  and  Osborne ;  being  repelled  by  the 
impenetrable  impudence  of  one,  and  deadened  by  the  impassive  dul- 
ness  of  the  other.'     Johnson's  Works,  viii.  302. 

different 


Aetat.  33.]    A  projected  parliamentary  history.  1 79 

different  communities  and  different  religions,  there  should 
be  no  civil  commotions',  though  the  people  are  so  warlike, 
that  to  nominate  and  raise  an  army  is  the  same.' 

I  am  obliged  to  Mr.  Astle*  for  his  ready  permission  to 
copy  the  two  following  letters,  of  which  the  originals  are  in 
his  possession.  Their  contents  shew  that  they  were  written 
about  this  time,  and  that  Johnson  was  now  engaged  in  pre- 
paring an  historical  account  of  the  British  Parliament. 

'To  Mr.  Cave.  ^No  date:\ 

'Sir, 

'  I  believe  I  am  going  to  write  a  long  letter,  and  have  there- 
fore taken  a  whole  sheet  of  paper.  The  first  thing  to  be  written 
about  is  our  historical  design. 

'  You  mentioned  the  proposal  of  printing  in  numbers,  as  an  al- 
teration in  the  scheme,  but  I  believe  you  mistook,  some  way  or 
other,  my  meaning ;  I  had  no  other  view  than  that  you  might  rather 
print  too  many  of  five  sheets,  than  of  five  and  thirty. 

'  With  regard  to  what  I  shall  say  on  the  manner  of  proceeding, 
I  would  have  it  understood  as  wholly  indifferent  to  me,  and  my 
opinion  only,  not  my  resolution.     Emptoris  sit  eligere. 

'  I  think  the  insertion  of  the  exact  dates  of  the  most  important 
events  in  the  margin,  or  of  so  many  events  as  may  enable  the 
reader  to  regulate  the  order  of  facts  with  sufficient  exactness,  the 
proper  medium  between  a  journal,  which  has  regard  only  to  time, 
and  a  history  which  ranges  facts  according  to  their  dependence  on 
each  other,  and  postpones  or  anticipates  according  to  the  conven- 
ience of  narration.  I  think  the  work  ought  to  partake  of  the  spirit 
of  history,  which  is  contrary  to  minute  exactness,  and  of  the  regu- 
larity' of  a  journal,  which  is  inconsistent  with  spirit.  For  this 
reason,  I  neither  admit  numbers  or  dates,  nor  reject  them. 

'  I  am  of  your  opinion  with  regard  to  placing  most  of  the  reso- 
lutions tSjc,  in  the  margin,  and  think  we  shall  give  the  most  com- 
plete account  of  Parliamentary  proceedings  that  can  be  contrived. 
The  naked  papers,  without  an  historical  treatise  interwoven,  require 
some   other  book   to    make    them    understood.     1   will  date  the 

'  In  the  original  contentions. 

^  'Dec.  21, 1775.  In  the  Paper  Office  there  is  a  wight,  called  Thomas 
Astle,  who  lives  like  moths  on  old  parchments.'  Walpole's  Letters, 
vi.  299. 

succeeding 


I  So  Payment  for  work.  [a.d.  1742. 

succeeding  facts  with  some  exactness,  but  I  think  in  the  margin. 
You  told  me  on  Saturday  that  I  had  received  money  on  this  work, 
and  found  set  down  13/.  2s.  (>d.,  reckoning  the  half  guinea  of  last 
Saturday.  As  you  hinted  to  me  that  you  had  many  calls  for  money, 
I  would  not  press  you  too  hard,  and  therefore  shall  desire  only,  as 
I  send  it  in,  two  guineas  for  a  sheet  of  copy ;  the  rest  you  may  pay 
me  when  it  may  be  more  convenient ;  and  even  by  this  sheet-pay- 
ment 1  shall,  for  some  time,  be  very  expensive. 

'The  Life  of  Savage'  I  am  ready  to  go  upon;  and  in  Great 
Primer,  and  Pica  notes,  I  reckon  on  sending  in  half  a  sheet  a  day  ; 
but  the  money  for  that  shall  likewise  lye  by  in  your  hands  till  it  is 
done.  With  the  debates,  shall  not  I  have  business  enough  ?  if  I 
had  but  good  pens. 

'Towards  Mr.  Savage's  Life  what  more  have  you  got.'  I  would 
willingly  have  his  trial,  &c.,  and  know  whether  his  defence  be  at 
Bristol,  and  would  have  his  collection  of  poems,  on  account  of  the 
Preface. — The  Plain  Dealer'\ — all  the  magazines  that  have  any- 
thing of  his,  or  relating  to  him. 

'  1  thought  my  letter  would  be  long,  but  it  is  now  ended  ;  and 

I  am,  Sir, 

'  Yours,  &c.  S.J^^r.  Johnson.' 

'  The  boy  found  me  writing  this  almost  in  the  dark,  when  I  could 
not  quite  easily  read  yours. 

'  I  have  read  the  Italian — nothing  in  it  is  well. 

'  I  had  no  notion  of  having  any  thing  for  the  Inscription ' .  I 
hope  you  don't  think  I  kept  it  to  extort  a  price.  1  could  think  of 
nothing,  till  to  day.  If  you  could  spare  me  another  guinea  for  the 
history,  I  should  take  it  very  kindly,  to  night ;  but  if  you  do  not  1 
shall  not  think  it  an  injury. — I  am  almost  well  again.' 

'To  Mr.  Cave. 
'Sir, 

'  You  did  not  tell  me  vour  determination  about  the  *  Soldier's 


'  Savage  died  on  Aug.  i,  1743,  so  that  this  letter  is  misplaced. 

"  The  Plain  Dealer  was  published  in  1724,  and  contained  some  ac- 
count of  Savage.     Boswell. 

'  In  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  Sept.  1743  (p.  490)  there  is  an  epitaph  on 
R — d  S — e,  Esq.,  which  may  perhaps  be  this  inscription.  '  His  life  was 
want,'  this  epitaph  declares.  It  is  certainly  not  the  Runick  Inscription 
in  the  number  for  March  1742,  as  Malone  suggests;  for  the  earliest 
possible  date  of  this  letter  is  seventeen  months  later. 

Letter, 


Aetat. 33]  Ad  Lauram  parituram  Epigramma.         1 8 1 

Letter','  which  I  am  confident  was  never  printed.  I  think  it  will 
not  do  by  itself,  or  in  any  other  place,  so  well  as  the  Mag.  Extraor- 
dinary".  If  you  will  have  it  at  all,  I  believe  you  do  not  think  I 
set  it  high,  and  I  will  be  glad  if  what  you  give,  you  will  give  quickly. 
'  You  need  not  be  in  care  about  something  to  print,  for  I  have 
got  the  State  Trials,  and  shall  extract  Layer,  Atterbury,  and  Mac- 
clesfield from  them,  and  shall  bring  them  to  you  in  a  fortnight; 
after  which  I  will  try  to  get  the  South  Sea  Report.' 

{^No  date,  nor  szgnati(reJ\ 

I  would  also  ascribe  to  him  an  '  Essay  on  the  Description 
of  China,  from  the  French  of  Du  Halde'.'f 

His  writings  in  the  Gentleman  s  Magaaine  in  1743,  are,  the 
'  Preface^'t  the  '  Parliamentary  Debates,'t  '  Considerations 
on  the  Dispute  between  Crousaz/  and  Warburton,  on  Pope's 
Essay  on  Man  ;'f  in  which,  while  he  defends  Crousaz,  he 
shews  an  admirable  metaphysical  acuteness  and  temperance 
in    controversy*;    'Ad    Lauram    parituram    Epigramma';'* 

'  I  have  not  discovered  what  this  was.     Boswell. 

^  The  iMag .-Extraordinary  is  perhaps  the  Supplement  to  the  De- 
cember number  of  each  year. 

^  This  essay  contains  one  sentiment  eminently  Johnsonian.  The 
writer  had  shown  how  patiently  Confucius  endured  extreme  indi- 
gence. He  adds: — 'This  constancy  cannot  raise  our  admiration  after 
his  former  conquest  of  himself ;  for  how  easily  may  he  support  pain 
who  has  been  able  to  resist  pleasure.'     Gent.  Mag.  xii.  355. 

*  In  this  Preface  there  is  a  complaint  that  has  been  often  repeated 
— '  All  kinds  of  learning  have  given  way  to  politicks.' 

'  In  the  Life  of  Pope  (Johnson's  Works,  viii.  287)  Johnson  says  that 
Crousaz,  '  however  little  known  or  regarded  here,  was  no  mean  antag- 
onist.' 

'  It  is  not  easy  to  believe  that  Boswell  had  read  this  essay,  for  there 
is  nothing  metaphysical  in  what  Johnson  wrote.  Two-thirds  of  the 
paper  are  a  translation  from  Crousaz.  Boswell  does  not  seem  to  have 
distinguished  between  Crousaz's  writings  and  Johnson's.  We  have 
here  a  striking  instance  of  the  way  in  which  Cave  sometimes  treated 
his  readers.  One-third  of  this  essay  is  given  in  the  number  for  March, 
the  rest  in  the  number  for  November. 

'  Angliacas  inter  pulcherrinia  Laura  piiellas, 

Mox  uteri  pondus  depositura  grave, 
Adsit,  Laura,  tibi  facilis  Lucina  dolenti. 
Neve  tibi  noceat  prcenituisse  Deo:. 

and. 


1 82  Friendship,  a)L   Ode.  [a. d.  1743. 

and, '  A  Latin  Translation  of  Pope's  Verses  on  his  Grotto'  ;'* 
and,  as  he  could  employ  his  pen  with  equal  success  upon  a 
small  matter  as  a  great,  I  suppose  him  to  be  the  authour  of 
an  advertisement  for  Osborne,  concerning  the  great  Harleian 
Catalogue'. 

But  I  should  think  myself  much  wanting,  both  to  my  il- 
lustrious friend  and  my  readers,  did  I  not  introduce  here, 
with  more  than  ordinary  respect,  an  exquisitely  beautiful 
Ode,  which  has  not  been  inserted  in  any  of  the  collections 
of  Johnson's  poetry,  written  by  him  at  a  very  early  period, 
as  Mr.  Hector  informs  me,  and  inserted  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazitie  of  this  year. 

Friendship,  an  Ode.* 

'  Friendship,  peculiar  boon  of  heav'n, 
The  noble  mind's  delight  and  pride, 

To  men  and  angels  only  giv'n, 
To  all  the  lower  world  deny'd. 

While  love,  unknown  among  the  blest, 
Parent  of  thousand  wild  desires, 

The  savage  and  the  human  breast 
Torments  alike  with  raging  fires ; 

Mr.  Hector  was  present  when  this  Epigram  was  made  impromptu. 
The  first  Hne  was  proposed  by  Dr.  James,  and  Johnson  was  called 
upon  by  the  company  to  finish  it.  which  he  instantly  did.  Boswell. 
Macaulay  {Essays,  i.  364)  criticises  Mr.  Croker's  criticism  of  this  epi- 
gram. 

'  The  lines  with  which  this  poem  is  introduced  seem  to  show  that 
it  cannot  be  Johnson's.  He  was  not  the  man  to  allow  that  haste  of 
performance  was  any  plea  for  indulgence.  They  are  as  follows:  — 
'  Though  several  translations  of  Mr.  Pope's  verses  on  his  Grotto  have 
already  appeared,  we  hope  that  the  following  attempt,  which,  we  are 
assured,  was  the  casual  amusement  of  half  an  hour  during  several 
solicitations  to  proceed,  will  neither  be  unacceptable  to  our  readers, 
nor  (these  circumstances  considered)  dishonour  the  persons  concerned 
by  a  hasty  publication.'     Gent.  Mag.  xiii.  550. 

*  See  Gent.  Mag.  xiii.  560.  I  doubt  whether  this  advertisement  be 
from  Johnson's  hand.  It  is  ver>'  unlikely  that  he  should  make  the 
advertiser  in  one  and  the  same  paragraph  when  speaking  of  himself 
use  us  and  mine.     Boswell  does  not  mention  the  Preface  to  vol.  iii.  of 

With 


Aetat.  34.J  Dr.  jfaDics  and  Dr.  Mead.  183 


With  bright,  but  oft  destructive,  gleam, 

Alike  o'er  all  his  lightnings  fly; 
Thy  lambent  glories  only  beam 

Around  the  fav'rites  of  the  sky. 

Thy  gentle  flows  of  guiltless  joys 
On  fools  and  villains  ne'er  descend ; 

In  vain  for  thee  the  tyrant  sighs, 
And  hugs  a  flatterer  for  a  friend. 

Directress  of  the  brave  and  just, 

O  guide  us  through  life's  darksome  way ! 

And  let  the  tortures  of  mistrust 
On  selfish  bosoms  only  prey. 

Nor  shall  thine  ardours  cease  to  glow. 
When  souls  to  blissful  climes  remove ; 

What  rais'd  our  virtue  here  below. 
Shall  aid  our  happiness  above.' 

Johnson  had  now  an  opportunity  of  obliging  his  school- 
fellow Dr.  James,  of  whom  he  once  observed,  '  no  man  brings 
more  mind  to  his  profession'.'  James  published  this  year  his 
Medicinal  Dictionary,  in  three  volumes  folio.  Johnson,  as  I 
understood  from  him,  had  written,  or  assisted  in  writing,  the 
proposals  for  this  work  ;  and  being  very  fond  of  the  study  of 
physick,  in  which  James  was  his  master,  he  furnished  some 
of  the  articles'.  He,  however,  certainly  wrote  for  it  the  Dedi- 
cation to  Dr.  Mead,t  which  is  conceived  with  great  address, 
to  conciliate  the  patronage  of  that  very  eminent  man'. 

the  Harleian  Catalogue.  It  is  included  in  Johnson's  Works  (v.  198). 
Its  author,  be  he  who  he  may,  in  speaking  of  literature,  says : — '  I  have 
idly  hoped  to  revive  a  taste  well-nigh  extinguished.' 

'  Johnson  did  not  speak  equally  well  of  Dr.  James's  morals.  '  He 
will  not,'  he  wrote,  '  pay  for  three  box  tickets  which  he  took.  It  is  a 
strange  fellow.'  The  tickets  were  no  doubt  for  Miss  Williams's  bene- 
fit (Crocker's  Boswell,  8vo.  p.  loi).  See  ante,  p.  95,  2LVi6.  post,  March  28, 
1776,  end  of  1780,  note. 

'  See  post,  April  5,  1776. 

'  'to  dr.  mead. 

'Sir, 

'  That  the  Medicinal  Dictionary  is  dedicated  to  you,  is  to  be  im- 
puted only  to  your  reputation  for  superior  skill   in  those  sciences 

It 


184  Dr.  Birch.  [a.d.  1743. 

It  has  been  circulated,  I  know  not  with  what  authenticity, 
that  Johnson  considered  Dr.  Birch  as  a  dull  writer,  and  said 
of  him,  '  Tom  Birch  is  as  brisk  as  a  bee  in  conversation  ;  but 
no  sooner  does  he  take  a  pen  in  his  hand,  than  it  becomes  a 
torpedo  to  him,  and  benumbs  all  his  faculties'.'  That  the 
literature  of  this  country  is  much  indebted  to  Birch's  activity 
and  diligence  must  certainly  be  acknowledged.  We  have 
seen  that  Johnson  honoured  him  with  a  Greek  Epigram'; 
and  his  correspondence  with  him,  during  many  years,  proves 
that  he  had  no  mean  opinion  of  him. 

which  I  have  endeavoured  to  explain  and  facilitate :  and  you  are, 
therefore,  to  consider  this  address,  if  it  be  agreeable  to  you,  as  one  of 
the  rewards  of  merit ;  and  if,  otherwise,  as  one  of  the  inconveniences 
of  eminence. 

*  However  you  shall  receive  it,  my  design  cannot  be  disappointed  ; 
because  this  publick  appeal  to  your  judgement  will  shew  that  I  do  not 
found  my  hopes  of  approbation  upon  the  ignorance  of  my  readers,  and 
that  I  fear  his  censure  least,  whose  knowledge  is  most  extensive. 
'  I  am,  Sir, 

'  Your  most  obedient  humble  servant, 

'  R.James.' 
BoswELL.     See  post.  May   i6,  1778,  where  Johnson  said,  'Dr.  Mead 
lived  more  in  the  broad  sunshine  of  life  than  almost  any  man.' 

'  'Johnson  was  used  to  speak  of  him  in  this  manner : — "  Tom  is  a 
lively  rogue ;  he  remembers  a  great  deal,  and  can  tell  many  pleasant 
stories;  but  a  pen  is  to  Tom  a  torpedo,  the  touch  of  it  benumbs  his 
hand  and  his  brain."  '  Hawkins's  Jo/mson,  p.  209.  Goldsmith  in  his 
Life  of  Nash  (Cunningham's  GoldsmitJi  s  Works,  iv.  54)  says: — 'Nash 
was  not  born  a  writer,  for  whatever  humour  he  might  have  in  conver- 
sation, he  used  to  call  a  pen  his  torpedo ;  whenever  he  grasped  it,  it 
benumbed  all  his  faculties.'  It  is  very  likely  that  Nash  borrowed  this 
saying  from  Johnson.  In  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Sept.  24,  1773,  we  read  : 
'  Dr.  Birch  being  mentioned,  Dr.  Johnson  said  he  had  more  anecdotes 
than  any  man.  I  said,  Percy  had  a  great  many ;  that  he  flowed  with 
them  like  one  of  the  brooks  here.  Johnson.  "  If  Percy  is  like  one 
of  the  brooks  here,  Birch  was  like  the  River  Thames.  Birch  excelled 
Percy  in  that  as  much  as  Percy  excels  Goldsmith." '  Disraeli  (Curi- 
osities of  Literature,  iii.  425)  describes  Dr.  Birch  as  'one  to  whom 
British  history  stands  more  indebted  than  to  any  superior  author. 
He  has  enriched  the  British  Museum  by  thousands  of  the  most 
authentic  documents  of  genuine  secret  history.' 

'  A7ite,  p.  162. 

To 


Aetat.34.]  Letter  to  Mr.  Levett.  1S5 

'To  Dr.  Birch. 

'Thursday,  Sept.  29,  1743. 
'Sir, 

'  I  hope  you  will  excuse  me  for  troubling  you  on  an  occasion 

on  which  I  know  not  whom  else  I  can  apply  to ;  I  am  at  a  loss  for 

the  Lives  and  Characters  of  Earl  Stanhope,  the  two  Craggs,  and 

the  minister  Sunderland  ;  and  beg  that  you  will  inform  [me]  where 

I  may  find  them,  and  send  any  pamphlets,  &c.  relating  to  them  to 

Mr.  Cave,  to  be  perused  for  a  few  days  by,  Sir, 

'  Your  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

His  circumstances  were  at  this  time  much  embarrassed; 
yet  his  affection  for  his  mother  was  so  warm,  and  so  Hberal, 
that  he  took  upon  himself  a  debt  of  her's,  which,  though 
small  in  itself,  was  then  considerable  to  him.  This  appears 
from  the  following  letter  which  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Levett,  of 
Lichfield,  the  original  of  which  lies  now  before  me. 

'To  Mr.  Levett;  in  Lichfield. 

'  December  i,  1743. 
'Sir, 

'  I  am  extremely  sorry  that  we  have  encroached  so  much  upon 
your  forbearance  with  respect  to  the  interest,  which  a  great  per- 
plexity of  affairs  hindered  me  from  thinking  of  with  that  attention 
that  I  ought,  and  which  I  am  not  immediately  able  to  remit  to  you, 
but  will  pay  it  (I  think  twelve  pounds,)  in  two  months.  I  look 
upon  this,  and  on  the  future  interest  of  that  mortgage,  as  my  own 
debt ;  and  beg  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  give  me  directions  how 
to  pay  it,  and  not  mention  it  to  my  dear  mother.  If  it  be  necessary 
to  pay  this  in  less  time,  I  believe  I  can  do  it ;  but  I  take  two 
months  for  certainty,  and  beg  an  answer  whether  you  can  allow 
me  so  much  time.  I  think  myself  very  much  obliged  to  your  for- 
bearance, and  shall  esteem  it  a  great  happiness  to  be  able  to  serve 
you.  I  have  great  opportunities  of  dispersing  anything  that  you 
may  think  proper  to  make  publick'.     I  will  give  a  note  for  the 

'  In  1 761  Mr.  John  Levett  was  returned  for  Lichfield,  but  on  petition 
was  declared  to  be  not  duly  elected  {Pari.  Hist.  xv.  1088).  Perhaps 
he  was  already  aiming  at  public  life. 

money, 


i86  The  Life  of  Savage.  [a. d.  1744. 

money,  payable  at  the  time  mentioned,  to  any  one  here  that  you 
shall  appoint.     I  am.  Sir, 

'  Your  most  obedient, 

'  And  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson. 
'At  Mr.  Osborne's,  bookseller,  in  Gray's  Inn.' 

1744:  .^TAT.  35.] — It  does  not  appear  that  he  wrote  any 
thing  in  1744  for  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine,  but  the  Preface. f 
His  Life  of  Baretier  was  now  re-published  in  a  pamphlet  by 
itself.  But  he  produced  one  work  this  year,  fully  sufficient  to 
maintain  the  high  reputation  which  he  had  acquired.  This 
was  The  Life  of  Richard  Savage ;*  a  man,  of  whom  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  speak  impartially,  without  wondering  that  he  was 
for  some  time  the  intimate  companion  of  Johnson' ;  for  his 
character  was  marked  by  profligacy,  insolence,  and  ingrati- 
tude' :  yet,  as  he   undoubtedly  had  a  warm  and  vigorous, 

'  One  explanation  may  be  found  of  Johnson's  intimacy  with  Savage 
and  with  other  men  of  loose  character.  '  He  was,'  writes  Hawkins, 
'  one  of  the  most  quick-sighted  men  I  ever  knew  in  discovering  the 
good  and  amiable  qualities  of  others'  (Hawkins's  Johnson,  \).  ^^o). 
'  He  was,'  says  Boswell  {post,  April  13,  1778),  'willing  to  take  men  as 
they  are,  imperfect,  and  with  a  mixture  of  good  and  bad  qualities.' 
How  intimate  the  two  men  were  is  shown  by  the  following  passage  in 
Johnson's  Life  of  Savage : — 'Savage  left  London  in  July,  1739,  having 
taken  leave  with  great  tenderness  of  his  friends,  and  parted  from  the 
author  of  this  narrative  with  tears  in  his  eyes.'    Johnson's  Works,  viii. 

173- 

*  As  a  specimen  of  his  temper,  I  insert  the  following  letter  from  him 
to  a  noble  Lord,  to  whom  he  was  under  great  obligations,  but  who,  on 
account  of  his  bad  conduct,  was  obliged  to  discard  him.  The  original 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  late  Francis  Cockayne  Cust,  Esq.,  one  of  His 
Majesty's  Counsel  learned  in  the  law : 
'  Right  Honourable  Brute,  ajid  BoOBV, 

'  I  FIND  you  want  (as  Mr. is  pleased  to  hint,)  to  swear  away 

my  life,  that  is,  the  life  of  your  creditor,  because  he  asks  you  for  a 
debt. — The  publick  shall  soon  be  acquainted  with  this,  to  judge 
whether  you  are  not  litter  to  be  an  Irish  Evidence,  than  to  be  an  Irish 
Peer. — I  defy  and  despise  you.  '  I  am, 

'  Your  determined  adversary, 

'  R.  S.' 
though 


Aetat.  155.]    yokiisous  friendship  with  Savage.  187 

though  unregulated  mind,  had  seen  life  in  all  its  varieties, 
and  been  much  in  the  company  of  the  statesmen  and  wits  of 
his  time',  he  could  communicate  to  Johnson  an  abundant 
supply  of  such  materials  as  his  philosophical  curiosity  most 
eagerly  desired ;  and  as  Savage's  misfortunes  and  miscon- 
duct had  reduced  him  to  the  lowest  state  of  wretchedness 
as  a  writer  for  bread',  his  visits  to  St.  John's  Gate  naturally 
brought  Johnson  and  him  together'. 

BoswELL.  The  noble  Lord  was  no  doubt  Lord  Tyrconnel.  See 
Johnson's  Works,  viii.  140.     Mr.  Cust  is  mentioned /^5-A  p.  170. 

'  '  Savage  took  all  opportunities  of  conversing  familiarly  with  those 
who  were  most  conspicuous  at  that  time  for  their  power  or  their  in- 
fluence ;  he  watched  their  looser  moments,  and  examined  their  domes- 
tic behaviour  with  that  acuteness  which  nature  had  given  him,  and 
which  the  uncommon  variety  of  his  life  had  contributed  to  increase, 
and  that  inquisitiveness  which  must  always  be  produced  in  a  vigorous 
mind  by  an  absolute  freedom  from  all  pressing  or  domestic  engage- 
ments.'    Johnson's  ^-F^r/^'i-,  viii.  135. 

'  '  Thus  he  spent  his  time  in  mean  expedients  and  tormenting  sus- 
pense, living  for  the  greatest  part  in  the  fear  of  prosecutions  from  his 
creditors,  and  consequently  skulking  in  obscure  parts  of  the  town,  of 
which  he  was  no  stranger  to  the  remotest  corners.'     lb.  p.  165. 

'  Sir  John  Hawkins  gives  the  world  to  understand,  that  Johnson, 
'  being  an  admirer  of  genteel  manners,  was  captivated  by  the  address 
and  demeanour  of  Savage,  who,  as  to  his  exterior,  was,  to  a  remarkable 
degree,  accomplished.'  Hawkins's  Life,  p.  52.  But  Sir  John's  notions 
of  gentility  must  appear  somewhat  ludicrous,  from  his  stating  the  fol- 
lowing circumstance  as  presumptive  evidence  that  Savage  was  a  good 
swordsman  ;  '  That  he  understood  the  exercise  of  a  gentleman's  weap- 
on, may  be  inferred  from  the  use  made  of  it  in  that  rash  encounter 
which  is  related  in  his  life.'  The  dexterity  here  alluded  to  was,  that 
Savage,  in  a  nocturnal  fit  of  drunkenness,  stabbed  a  man  at  a  coffee- 
house, and  killed  him  ;  for  which  he  was  tried  at  the  Old-Bailey,  and 
found  guilty  of  murder. 

Johnson,  indeed,  describes  him  as  having  '  a  grave  and  manly  de- 
portment, a  solemn  dignity  of  mien  ;  but  which,  upon  a  nearer  ac- 
quaintance, softened  into  an  engaging  easiness  of  manners.'  [John- 
son's Works,  v\\\.  187.]  How  highly  Johnson  admired  him  for  that 
knowledge  which  he  himself  so  much  cultivated,  and  what  kindness 
he  entertained  for  him,  appears  from  the  following  lines  in  the  Gen- 
tleman's Magazine  for  April  1738.  which  I  am  assured  were  written 
by  Johnson  ; 

It 


^^8  Dining  behind  the  screen.  [a.d.  1744. 


It  is  melancholy  to  reflect,  that  Johnson  and  Savage  were 
sometimes  in  such  extreme  indigence',  that  they  could  not 
pay  for  a  lodging ;  so  that  they  have  wandered  together 
whole  nights  in  the  streets'.     Yet  in  these  almost  incredible 

M</RiCARDUM  Savage. 
'  Hitrnani  studiiim  generis  cut  pectore  fcrvet 
O  colat  hiimajiiim  te  foveatque gCJius.' 
BosWELL.     The  epigram   is   inscribed   Ad   Ricardum  Savage,  Arm. 
Humani  Generis  Amatorem.     Gent.  Mag.  viii.  210. 

'  The  following  striking  proof  of  Johnson's  extreme  indigence,  when 
he  published  the  Life  of  Savage,  was  communicated  to  the  author,  by 
Mr.  Richard  Stow,  of  Apsley,  in  Bedfordshire,  from  the  information 
of  Mr.  Walter  Harte,  author  of  the  Life  of  Gustavus  Adoiphtis  : 

'  Soon  after  Savages  Life  was  published,  Mr.  Harte  dined  with 
Edward  Cave,  and  occasionally  praised  it.  Soon  after,  meeting  him, 
Cave  said,  "  You  made  a  man  very  happy  t'other  day." — "  How  could 
that  be,"  says  Harte ;  "  nobody  was  there  but  ourselves."  Cave  an- 
swered, by  reminding  him  that  a  plate  of  victuals  was  sent  behind  a 
screen,  which  was  to  Johnson,  dressed  so  shabbily,  that  he  did  not 
choose  to  appear ;  but  on  hearing  the  conversation,  was  highly  de- 
lighted with  the  encomiums  on  his  book.'  Malone.  '  He  desired 
much  to  be  alone,  yet  he  always  loved  good  talk,  and  often  would  get 
behind  the  screen  to  hear  it.'  Great-Heart's  account  of  Fearing,  Pil- 
grivi's  Progress,  Part  II.  Harte  was  tutor  to  Lord  Chesterfield's  son. 
See  post,  1770,  in  Dr.  Maxwell's  Collectanea,  and  March  30,  1781. 

'  'Johnson  has  told  me  that  whole  nights  have  been  spent  by  him 
and  Savage  in  a  perambulation  round  the  squares  of  Westminster, 
St.  James's  in  particular,  when  all  the  money  they  could  both  raise 
was  less  than  sufficient  to  purchase  for  them  the  shelter  and  sordid 
comforts  of  a  night's  cellar.'  Hawkins's  Johnson,  p.  53.  Where  was 
Mrs.  Johnson  living  at  this  time  ?  This  perhaps  was  the  time  of  which 
Johnson  wrote,  when,  after  telling  of  a  silver  cup  which  his  mother 
had  bought  him,  and  marked  SAM.  I.,  he  says  : — '  The  cup  was  one  of 
the  last  pieces  of  plate  which  dear  Tetty  sold  in  our  distress.'  Ac- 
coimt  of  Johnson  s  Early  Life,  p.  18.  Yet  it  is  not  easy  to  understand 
how,  if  there  was  a  lodging  for  her,  there  was  not  one  for  him.  She 
might  have  been  living  with  friends.  We  have  a  statement  by  Haw- 
kins (p.  89)  that  there  was  '  a  temporary  separation  of  Johnson  from 
his  wife.'  He  adds  that,  'while  he  was  in  a  lodging  in  Fleet  Street, 
she  was  harboured  by  a  friend  near  the  Tower.'  This  separation,  he 
insinuates,  rose  by  an  estrangement  caused  by  Johnson's  '  indifference 
in  the  discharge  of  the  domestic  virtues.'  It  is  far  more  likely  that  it 
rose  from  destitution. 

scenes 


Aetat.  n.j.j       yohnson  in  want  of  a  lodging.  189 

scenes  of  distress,  we  may  suppose  that  Savage  mentioned 
many  of  the  anecdotes  with  which  Johnson  after\v'ards  en- 
riched the  Hfe  of  his  unhappy  companion,  and  those  of  other 
Poets. 

He  told  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  that  one  night  in  particular, 
when  Savage  and  he  walked  round  St.  James's-square  for  want 
of  a  lodging,  they  were  not  at  all  depressed  by  their  situa- 
tion ;  but  in  high  spirits  and  brimful  of  patriotism,  traversed 
the  square  for  several  hours,  inveighed  against  the  minister, 
and  *  resolved  they  would  stand  by  their  co2i)itry\' 

I  am  afraid,  however,  that  by  associating  with  Savage,  who 
was  habituated  to  the  dissipation  and  licentiousness  of  the 
town,  Johnson,  though  his  good  principles  remained  steady, 
did  not  entirely  preserve  that  conduct,  for  which,  in  days  of 
greater  simplicity,  he  was  remarked  by  his  friend  Mr.  Hec- 
tor; but  was  imperceptibly  led  into  some  indulgencies  which 
occasioned  much  distress  to  his  virtuous  mind°. 

That  Johnson  was  anxious  that  an  authentick  and  favour- 
able   account   of   his  extraordinary   friend   should   first   get 


Shenstone.  in  a  letter  written  in  1743,  gives  a  curious  account  of  the 
streets  of  London  through  which  Johnson  wandered.  He  says : — 
'  London  is  really  dangerous  at  this  time ;  the  pickpockets,  formerly 
content  with  mere  filching,  make  no  scruple  to  knock  people  down 
with  bludgeons  in  Fleet  Street  and  the  Strand,  and  that  at  no  later 
hour  than  eight  o'clock  at  night ;  but  in  the  Piazzas,  Covent  Garden, 
they  come  in  large  bodies,  armed  with  coieteaus,  and  attack  whole  par- 
ties, so  that  the  danger  of  coming  out  of  the  play-houses  is  of  some 
weight  in  the  opposite  scale,  when  I  am  disposed  to  go  to  them  oftener 
than  I  ought.'     Shenstone's  Works  (3rd  edit.),  iii.  73. 

'  '  Savage  lodged  as  much  by  accident  as  he  dined,  and  passed  the 
night  sometimes'  in  mean  houses,  .  .  .  and  sometimes,  when  he  had 
not  money  to  support  even  the  expenses  of  these  receptacles,  walked 
about  the  streets  till  he  was  weary,  and  lay  down  in  the  summer  upon 
a  bulk,  or  in  the  winter,  with  his  associates  in  poverty,  among  the 
ashes  of  a  glasshouse.  In  this  manner  were  passed  those  days  and 
those  nights  which  nature  had  enabled  him  to  have  employed  in  ele- 
vated speculations,  useful  studies,  or  pleasing  conversation.'  John- 
son's Works,  viii,  1 59. 

*  See  ante,  p.  109. 

possession 


i^o  The  Life  of  Savage.  [a.d.1744. 

possession  of  the  publick  attention,  is  evident  from  a  letter 
which  he  wrote  in  the  Geyitlevians  Magazine  for  August  of 
the  year  preceding  its  publication. 

'  Mr.  Urban, 

'  As  your  collections  show  how  often  you  have  owed  the  orna- 
ments of  your  poetical  pages  to  the  correspondence  of  the  unfort- 
unate and  ingenious  Mr.  Savage,  1  doubt  not  but  you  have  so 
much  regard  to  his  memory  as  to  encourage  any  design  thai  may 
have  a  tendency  to  the  preservation  of  it  from  insults  or  calumnies  ; 
and  therefore,  with  some  degree  of  assurance,  intreat  you  to  inform 
the  publick,  that  his  life  will  speedily  be  published  by  a  person  who 
was  favoured  with  his  confidence,  and  received  from  himself  an 
account  of  most  of  the  transactions  which  he  proposes  to  mention, 
to  the  time  of  his  retirement  to  Swansea  in  Wales. 

'  P>om  that  period,  to  his  death  in  the  prison  of  Bristol,  the  ac- 
count will  be  continued  from  materials  still  less  liable  to  objection  ; 
his  own  letters,  and  those  of  his  friends,  some  of  which  will  be  in- 
serted in  the  work,  and  abstracts  of  others  subjoined  in  the  margin. 

'  It  may  be  reasonably  imagined,  that  others  may  have  the  same 
design  ;  but  as  it  is  not  credible  that  they  can  obtain  the  same 
materials,  it  must  be  expected  they  will  supply  from  invention  the 
want  of  intelligence;  and  that  under  the  title  of  "The  Life  of 
Savage,"  they  will  publish  only  a  novel,  filled  with  romantick  ad- 
ventures, and  imaginary  amours.  You  may  therefore,  perhaps,  grat- 
ify the  lovers  of  truth  and  wit,  by  giving  me  leave  to  inform  them 
in  your  Magazine,  that  my  account  will  be  published  in  8vo.  by 

Mr.  Roberts,  in  Warwick-lane'.' 

\^No  signature. \ 

In  February  1744,  it  accordingly  came  forth  from  the  shop 

'  Cave  was  the  purchaser  of  the  copyright,  and  the  following  is  a 
copy  of  Johnson's  receipt  for  the  money : — '  The  14th  day  of  Decem- 
ber, received  of  Mr.  Ed.  Cave  the  sum  of  fifteen  guineas,  in  full,  for 
compiling  and  writing  The  Life  of  Richard  Savage,  Esq.,  deceased  ; 
and  in  full  for  all  materials  thereto  applied,  and  not  found  by  the  said 
Edward  Cave.  I  say,  received  by  me,  Sam.  Johnson.  Dec.  14,  1743.' 
Wright.  The  title-page  is  as  follows : — '  An  account  of  the  Life  of 
Mr.  Richard  Savage,  son  of  the  Earl  Rivers.  London.  Printed  for 
J.  Roberts,  in  Warwick-Lane,  mdccxliv."  It  reached  a  second  edi- 
tion in  1748,  a  third  in  1767,  and  a  fourth  in  1769.  A  French  transla- 
tion was  published  in  1771. 

of 


Aetat.35.j  Reynolds  reads  The  Life  of  Savage.       191 

of  Roberts,  between  whom  and  Johnson  I  have  not  traced 
any  connection,  except  the  casual  one  of  this  publication'. 
In  Johnson's  Life  of  Savage,  although  it  must  be  allowed 
that  its  moral  is  the  reverse  of — '  Rcspiccre  exemplar  vitce 
morunique  jubebo' ,'  a  very  useful  lesson  is  inculcated,  to  guard 
men  of  warm  passions  from  a  too  free  indulgence  of  them  ; 
and  the  various  incidents  arc  related  in  so  clear  and  animated 
a  manner,  and  illuminated  throughout  with  so  much  philoso- 
phy, that  it  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  narratives  in  the 
English  language.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  told  me,  that  upon 
his  return  from  Italy'  he  met  with  it  in  Devonshire,  knowing 
nothing  of  its  authour,  and  began  to  read  it  while  he  was 
standing  with  his  arm  leaning  against  a  chimney-piece.  It 
seized  his  attention  so  strongly,  that,  not  being  able  to  lay 
down  the  book  till  he  had  finished  it,  when  he  attempted  to 
move,  he  found  his  arm  totally  benumbed.  The  rapidity 
with  which  this  work  was  composed,  is  a  wonderful  circum- 
stance. Johnson  has  been  heard  to  say,  *  I  wrote  forty-eight 
of  the  printed  octavo  pages  of  the  Life  of  Savage  at  a  sit- 
ting ;  but  then  I  sat  up  all  night\' 

He  exhibits  the  genius  of  Savage  to  the  best  advantage 
in  the  specimens  of  his  poetry  which  he  has  selected,  some 
of  which  are  of  uncommon  merit.  We,  indeed,  occasionally 
find  such  vigour  and  such  point,  as  might  make  us  suppose 
that  the  generous  aid  of  Johnson  had  been  imparted  to  his 
friend.  Mr.  Thomas  Warton  made  this  remark  to  me  ;  and, 
in  support  of  it,  quoted  from  the  poem  entitled  The  Bastard, 
a  line,  in  which  the  fancied  superiority  of  one  '  stamped  in 
Nature's  mint  with  extasy",'  is  contrasted  with  a  regular  law- 
ful descendant  of  some  great  and  ancient  family: 


'  Roberts  published    in   1745  Johnson's  Observations  on  Macbeth. 
See  Gent.  Mag.  xv.  1 12,  224. 
'  Horace,  Ars  Poetica,  1.  317. 
'  In  the  autumn  of  1752.     Northcote's  Reynolds,  i.  52. 

*  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  3rd  ed.  p.  35  [p.  55.     Aug.  19, 
1773].      BOSWELL. 

•  '  mint  of  ecstasy  :'     Savage's  Works  (1777),  ii.  91. 

'No 


192  Resemblance  of  yohitsou  to  Savage,  [a.d.  I74t. 


'No  tenth  transmitter  of  a  foolish  face'.' 

But  the  fact  is,  that  this  poem  was  published  some  years 
before  Johnson  and  Savage  were  acquainted". 

'  '  He  lives  to  build,  not  boast  a  generous  race  : 

No  tenth  transmitter  of  a  foolish  face." 

Savage ' s  Works  (1777),  ii.  91. 

'  '  The  Bastard :  A  poem,  inscribed  with  all  due  reverence  to  Mrs. 
Bret,  once  Countess  of  Macclesfield.  By  Richard  Savage,  son  of  the 
late  Earl  Rivers.  London,  printed  for  T.  Worrall,  1738.'  Fol.  first 
edition.  P.  CUNNINGHAM.  Between  Savage's  character,  as  drawn 
by  Johnson,  and  Johnson  himself  there  are  many  points  of  likeness. 
Each  '  always  preserved  a  steady  confidence  in  his  own  capacity,'  and 
of  each  it  might  be  said  : — '  Whatever  faults  may  be  imputed  to  him, 
the  virtue  of  suffering  well  cannot  be  denied  him.'  Each  '  excelled  in 
the  arts  of  conversation  and  therefore  willingly  practised  them."  In 
Savage's  refusal  to  enter  a  house  till  some  clothes  had  been  taken 
away  that  had  been  left  for  him  '  with  some  neglect  of  ceremonies,* 
we  have  the  counterpart  of  Johnson's  throwing  away  the  new  pair  of 
shoes  that  had  been  set  at  his  door.  Of  Johnson  the  following  lines 
are  as  true  as  of  Savage  : — '  His  distresses,  however  afflictive,  never 
dejected  him  ;  in  his  lowest  state  he  wanted  not  spirit  to  assert  the 
natural  dignity  of  wit,  and  was  always  ready  to  repress  that  insolence 
which  the  superiority  of  fortune  incited  ;  ...  he  never  admitted  any 
gross  familiarities,  or  submitted  to  be  treated  otherwise  than  as  an 
equal.'  Of  both  men  it  might  be  said  that  '  it  was  in  no  time  of  his 
life  any  part  of  his  character  to  be  the  first  of  the  company  that  de- 
sired to  separate.'  Each  'would  prolong  his  conversation  till  mid- 
night, without  considering  that  business  might  require  his  friend's 
application  in  the  morning ;'  and  each  could  plead  the  same  excuse 
that.  '  when  he  left  his  company,  he  was  abandoned  to  gloomy  reflec- 
tions.' Each  had  the  same  'accurate  judgment,'  the  same  'quick 
apprehension,'  the  same  'tenacious  memory.'  In  reading  such  lines 
as  the  following  who  does  not  think,  not  of  the  man  whose  biography 
was  written,  but  of  the  biographer  himself.-' — 'He  had  the  peculiar 
felicity  that  his  attention  never  deserted  him  ;  he  was  present  to  every 
obiect,  and  regardful  of  the  most  trifling  occurrences  .  .  .  To  this 
quality  is  to  be  imputed  the  extent  of  his  knowledge,  compared  with 
the  small  time  which  he  spent  in  visible  endeavours  to  acquire  it.  He 
mingled  in  cursory  conversation  with  the  same  steadiness  of  atten- 
tion as  others  apply  to  a  lecture  .  .  .  His  judgment  was  eminently  ex- 
act both  with  regard  to  writings  and  to  men.  The  knowledge  of  life 
was  indeed  his  chief  attainment.'    Of  Johnson's  London,  as  of  Savage's 

It 


Aetat.  35.]   yoliusoii  s  prejudice  against  players,  193 

It  is  remarkable,  that  in  this  biographical  disquisition  there 
appears  a  very  strong  symptom  of  Johnson's  prejudice  against 
players';  a  prejudice  which  may  be  attributed  to  the  follow- 
ing causes:  first,  the  imperfection  of  his  organs, which  were  so 
defective  that  he  was  not  susceptible  of  the  fine  impressions 
which  theatrical  excellence  produces  upon  the  generalit}-  of 
mankind;  secondly,  the  cold  rejection  of  his  tragedy;  and, 
lastly,  the  brilliant  success  of  Garrick,  who  had  been  his  pupil, 
who  had  come  to  London  at  the  same  time  with  him,  not 
in  a  much  more  prosperous  state  than  himself,  and  whose 
talents  he  undoubtedly  rated  low,  compared  with  his  own. 
His  being  outstripped  by  his  pupil  in  the  race  of  immediate 
fame,  as  well  as  of  fortune,  probably  made  him  feel  some 
indignation,  as  thinking  that  whatever  might  be  Garrick's 
merits  in  his  art,  the  reward  was  too  great  when  compared 
with  what  the  most  successful  efforts  of  literary  labour  could 
attain.  At  all  periods  of  his  life  Johnson  used  to  talk  con- 
temptuously of  players^ ;  but  in  this  work  he  speaks  of  them 
with  peculiar  acrimony ;  for  which,  perhaps,  there  was  for- 
merly too  much  reason  from  the  licentious  and  dissolute 
manners   of  those   engaged   in  that  profession'.      It  is  but 

The  Wanderer,  it  might  equally  well  be  said  : — '  Nor  can  it  without 
some  degree  of  indignation  and  concern  be  told  that  he  sold  the  copy 
for  ten  guineas.' 

•  '  Savage  was  now  again  abandoned  to  fortune  without  any  other 
friend  than  Mr.  Wilks  ;  a  man  who,  whatever  were  his  abilities  or  skill 
as  an  actor,  deserves  at  least  to  be  remembered  for  his  virtues,  which 
are  not  often  to  be  found  in  the  world,  and  perhaps  less  often  in  his 
profession  than  in  others.  To  be  humane,  generous,  and  candid  is  a 
very  high  degree  of  merit  in  any  case,  but  those  qualities  deserve  still 
greater  praise  when  they  are  found  in  that  condition  which  makes 
almost  every  other  man,  for  whatever  reason,  contemptuous,  insolent, 
petulant,  selfish,  and  brutal.'     Johnson's  Works,  viii.  107. 

*  In  his  old  age  he  wrote  as  he  had  written  in  the  vigour  of  his  man- 
hood : — '  To  the  censure  of  Collier  ...  he  [Dryden  ]  makes  little  reply  ; 
being  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight  attentive  to  better  things  than  the  claps 
of  a  play-house.'  Johnson's  Works,  vii.  295.  See.  post,  April  29,  1773. 
and  Sept.  21,  1777. 

^  Johnson,  writing  of  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century, 

says  : — '  The  playhouse  was  abhorred  by  the  Puritans,  and  avoided  by 

I. — 13  justice 


1 94  Garricks  mistakes  in  emphasis,      [a.d.  1744. 

justice  to  add,  that  in  our  own  time  such  a  change  has  taken 
place,  that  there  is  no  longer  room  for  such  an  unfavourable 
distinction'. 

His  schoolfellow  and  friend,  Dr.  Taylor,  told  me  a  pleasant 
anecdote  of  Johnson's  triumphing  over  his  pupil  David  Gar- 
rick.  When  that  great  actor  had  played  some  little  time  at 
Goodman's  Fields,  Johnson  and  Taylor  went  to  see  him  per- 
form, and  afterwards  passed  the  evening  at  a  tavern  with  him 
and  old  Giffard\  Johnson,  who  was  ever  depreciating  stage- 
players,  after  censuring  some  mistakes  in  emphasis  which 
Garrick  had  committed  in  the  course  of  that  night's  acting, 
said, '  the  players.  Sir,  have  got  a  kind  of  rant,w^ith  which  they 
run  on,  without  any  regard  either  to  accent  or  emphasis^* 
Both  Garrick  and  Giffard  were  offended  at  this  sarcasm, 
and  endeavoured  to  refute  it;  upon  which  Johnson  rejoined, 
'Well  now,  I'll  give  you  something  to  speak,  with  which  you 

those  who  desired  the  character  of  seriousness  or  decency.     A  grave 
lawyer  would  have  debased   his  dignity,  and  a  young  trader  would 
have  impaired  his  credit,  by  appearing  in  those  mansions  of  dissolute 
licentiousness."     Johnson's    Works,  vii.  270.     The  following  lines  in 
Churchill's  Apology  {Poems,  i.  65),  published  in  1761,  shew  how  strong, 
even  at  that  time,  was  the  feeling  against  strolling  players  : — 
'  The  strolling  tribe,  a  despicable  race. 
Like  wand'ring  Arabs  shift  from  place  to  place. 
Vagrants  by  law,  to  Justice  open  laid, 
They  tremble,  of  the  beadle's  lash  afraid, 
And  fawning  cringe,  for  wretched  means  of  life, 
To  Madam  May'ress,  or  his  Worship's  Wife.' 
'  Johnson  himself  recognises  the  change  in  the  public  estimation : 
— '  In  Dryden's  time,'  he  writes,  '  the  drama  was  very  far  from  that 
universal  approbation  which  it  has  now  obtained.'      Works,  vii.  270. 

'  Giffard  was  the  manager  of  the  theatre  in  Goodman's  Fields,  where 
Garrick,  on  Oct.  19,  1741,  made  his  first  appearance  before  a  London 
audience.     Murphy's  Garrick,  pp.  13,  16. 

*  '  Colonel  Pennington  said,  Garrick  sometimes  failed  in  emphasis ; 
as,  for  instance,  in  Hamlet, 

"I  will  speak  daggers  to  her;  but  use  ?wne ;" 
instead  of 

"  I  will  speak  daggers  to  her ;  but  use  none." ' 
Boswell's  Hebrides,  Aug.  28,  1773. 

arc 


Aetat.  35.]        A  review  in   The  Champion.  195 

are  little  acquainted,  and  then  we  shall  see  how  just  my  ob- 
servation is.  That  shall  be  the  criterion.  Let  me  hear  you 
repeat  the  ninth  Commandment,  "Thou  shalt  not  bear  false 
witness  against  thy  neighbour."'  Both  tried  at  it,  said  Dr. 
Taylor,  and  both  mistook  the  emphasis,  which  should  be  upon 
not  and  false  witness^.  Johnson  put  them  right,  and  enjoyed 
his  victory  with  great  glee. 

His  Life  of  Savage  was  no  sooner  published,  than  the  fol- 
lowing liberal  praise  was  given  to  it,  in  The  Champion,  a 
periodical  paper :  '  This  pamphlet  is,  without  flattery  to  its 
authour,  as  just  and  well  written  a  piece  as  of  its  kind  I  ever 
saw  ;  so  that  at  the  same  time  that  it  highly  deserves,  it 
certainly  stands  very  little  in  need  of  this  recommendation. 
As  to  the  history  of  the  unfortunate  person,  whose  memoirs 
compose  this  work,  it  is  certainly  penned  with  equal  accuracy 
and  spirit,  of  which  I  am  so  much  the  better  judge,  as  I  know 
many  of  the  facts  mentioned  to  be  strictly  true,  and  fairly 
related.  Besides,  it  is  not  only  the  story  of  Mr.  Savage,  but 
innumerable  incidents  relating  to  other  persons,  and  other 
affairs,  which  renders  this  a  very  amusing,  and,  withal,  a  very 
instructive  and  valuable  performance.  The  authour's  obser- 
vations are  short,  significant,  and  just,  as  his  narrative  is  re- 
markably smooth,  and  well  disposed.  His  reflections  open 
to  all  the  recesses  of  the  human  heart ;  and,  in  a  word,  a 
more  just  or  pleasant,  a  more  engaging  or  a  more  improving 
treatise,  on  all  the  excellencies  and  defects  of  human  nat- 
ure, is  scarce  to  be  found  in  our  own,  or,  perhaps,  any  other 
language^' 

'  I  suspect  Dr.  Taylor  was  inaccurate  in  this  statement.  The  em- 
phasis should  be  equally  upon  shalt  and  not,  as  both  concur  to  form 
the  negative  injunction  ;  -Arvd.  false  li'itness,  like  the  other  acts  prohib- 
ited in  the  Decalogue,  should  not  be  marked  by  any  peculiar  emphasis, 
but  only  be  distinctly  enunciated.     Boswell. 

'■'  This  character  of  the  Life  of  Savage  was  not  written  by  Fielding 
as  has  been  supposed,  but  most  probably  by  Ralph,  who,  as  appears 
from  the  minutes  of  the  partners  of  The  Champioft,  in  the  possession 
of  Mr.  Reed  of  Staple  Inn.  succeeded  Fielding  in  his  share  of  the 
oaper,  before  the  date  of  that  eulogium.     Boswell.     Ralph  is  men- 

lohnson's 


196  Parentage  of  Richard  Savage.       [a.d.  1744. 

Johnson's  partiality  for  Savage  made  him  entertain  no 
doubt  of  his  story,  however  extraordinary  and  improbable. 
It  never  occurred  to  him  to  question  his  being  the  son  of 
the  Countess  of  Macclesfield,  of  whose  unrelenting  barbarity 
lie  so  loudly  complained,  and  the  particulars  of  which  arc 
related  in  so  strong  and  affecting  a  manner  in  Johnson's  life 
of  him.  Johnson  was  certainly  well  warranted  in  publishing 
his  narrative,  however  offensive  it  might  be  to  the  lady  and 
her  relations,  because  her  alledged  unnatural  and  cruel  con- 
duct to  her  son,  and  shameful  avowal  of  guilt,  were  stated  in 
a  Life  of  Savage  now  lying  before  me,  which  came  out  so 
early  as  1727,  and  no  attempt  had  been  made  to  confute  it, 
or  to  punish  the  authour  or  printer  as  a  libeller:  but  for  the 
honour  of  human  nature,  we  should  be  glad  to  find  the  shock- 
ing talc  not  true ;  and,  from  a  respectable  gentleman'  con- 
nected with  the  lady's  family,  1  have  received  such  informa- 
tion and  remarks,  as  joined  to  my  own  inquiries,  will,  I  think, 
render  it  at  least  somewhat  doubtful,  especially  when  we  con- 
sider that  it  must  have  originated  from  the  person  himself 
who  went  by  the  name  of  Richard  Savage. 

If  the  maxim /iz/jww  in  uno,  falsiim  in  omnibus,  vj ere  to  be 
received  without  qualification,  the  credit  of  Savage's  narra- 
tive, as  conveyed  to  us,  would  be  annihilated  ;  for  it  contains 
some  assertions  which,  beyond  a  question,  are  not  true\ 

I.  In  order  to  induce  a  belief  that  Earl  Rivers,  on  ac- 
count of  a  criminal  connection  with  whom.  Lady  Macclesfield 
is  said  to  have  been  divorced  from  her  husband,  by  Act  of 

tioned  in  T/ie  Dunciad,  iii.  165.     A  curious  account  of  him  is  giver:  \a 
Benjamin  Franklin's  Memoirs,  i.  54-87,  and  245. 

^  The  late  Francis  Cockayne  Cust,  Esq.,  one  of  his  Majesty's  Coun- 
sel.     BOSWELL. 

*  '  Savage's  veracity  was  questioned,  but  with  little  reason  ;  his  ac- 
counts, though  not  indeed  always  the  same,  were  generally  consistent. 
When  he  loved  any  man.  he  suppressed  all  his  faults:  and,  when  he 
had  been  oflended  by  him,  concealed  all  his  virtues :  but  his  charac- 
ters were  generally  true  so  far  as  he  proceeded  ;  though  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  his  partiality  might  have  sometimes  the  effect  of  false- 
hood.'   Johnson's  Works,  viii.  190. 

Parliament, 


Aetat.  35.J        Parentage  of  Richard  Savage.  197 

Parliament',  had  a  peculiar  anxiety  about  the  child  which 
she  bore  to  him,  it  is  alledged,  that  his  Lordship  gave  him 
his  own  name,  and  had  it  duly  recorded  in  the  register  of 
St.  Andrew's,  Holborn\  I  have  carefully  inspected  that 
register,  but  no  such  entry  is  to  be  found'. 

2.  It  is  stated,  that '  Lady  Macclesfield  having  lived  for  some 

'   1697.      BOSWELL. 

'  Johnson's  Works,  viii.  98. 

^  The  story  on  which  Mr.  Cust  so  much  relies,  that  Savage  was  a 
supposititious  child,  not  the  son  of  Lord  Rivers  and  Lady  Macclesfield, 
but  the  offspring  of  a  shoemaker,  introduced  in  consequence  of  her 
real  son's  death,  was,  without  doubt,  grounded  on  the  circumstance  of 
Lady  Macclesfield  having,  in  1696,  previously  to  the  birth  of  Savage, 
had  a  daughter  by  the  Earl  Rivers,  who  died  in  her  infancy ;  a  fact 
which  was  proved  in  the  course  of  the  proceedings  on  Lord  Maccles- 
field's Bill  of  Divorce.  Most  fictions  of  this  kind  have  some  admixt- 
ure of  truth  in  them.  Malone.  From  The  Earl  of  Macclesfield' s  Case, 
it  appears  that  '  Anne,  Countess  of  Macclesfield,  under  the  name  of 
Madam  Smith,  in  Fox  Court,  near  Brook  Street,  Holborn,  was  deliv- 
ered of  a  male  child  on  the  i6th  of  January,  1696-7,  who  was  baptized 
on  the  Monday  following,  the  i8th,  and  registered  by  the  name  of 
Richard,  the  son  of  John  Smith,  by  Mr.  Burbridge  ;  and,  from  the  pri- 
vacy, was  supposed  by  Mr.  Burbridge  to  be  "  a  by-blow  or  bastard." ' 
It  also  appears,  that  during  her  deliver)\  the  lady  wore  a  mask  ;  and 
that  Mary  Pegler,  on  the  next  day  after  the  baptism,  took  a  male  child, 
whose  mother  was  called  Madam  Smith,  from  the  house  of  Mrs. 
Pheasant,  in  Fox  Court  [running  from  Brook  Street  in  Gray's  Inn 
Lane],  who  went  by  the  name  of  Mrs.  Lee. 

Conformable  to  this  statement  is  the  entry  in  the  register  of  St. 
Andrew's,  Holborn.  which  is  as  follows,  and  which  unquestionably  re- 
cords the  baptism  of  Richard  Savage,  to  whom  Lord  Rivers  gave  his 
own  Christian  name,  prefixed  to  the  assumed  surname  of  his  mother ; 
— 'Jan.  1696-7.  Richard,  son  of  John  Smith  and  Mary,  in  Fox  Court, 
in  Gray's  Inn  Lane,  baptized  the  i8th.'  Bindley.  According  to 
Johnsons  account  Savage  did  not  learn  who  his  parents  were  till  the 
death  of  his  nurse,  who  had  always  treated  him  as  her  son.  Among 
her  papers  he  found  some  letters  written  by  Lady  Macclesfield's 
mother  proving  his  origin.  Johnson's  ]Vorks,  viii.  102.  Why  these 
letters  were  not  laid  before  the  public  is  not  stated.  Johnson  was 
one  of  the  least  credulous  of  men,  and  he  was  convinced  by  Savage's 
story.  Horace  Walpole,  too,  does  not  seem  to  have  doubted  it.  Wal- 
pole's  Letters,  i.  cv. 

time 


198  Lady  MacclesfielcTs  divorce.  [a.d.  1744. 

time  upon  very  uneasy  terms  with  her  husband,  thought  a 
publick  confession  of  adultery  the  most  obvious  and  ex- 
peditious method  of  obtaining  her  Hberty';'  and  Johnson, 
assuming  this  to  be  true,  stigmatises  her  with  indignation,  as 
*the  wretch  who  had,  without  scruple,  proclaimed  herself  an 
adulteress'.'  But  I  have  perused  the  Journals  of  both  houses 
of  Parliament  at  the  period  of  her  divorce,  and  there  find  it 
authentically  ascertained,  that  so  far  from  voluntarily  sub- 
mitting to  the  ignominious  charge  of  adultery,  she  made  a 
strenuous  defence  by  her  Counsel ;  the  bill  having  been  first 
moved  15th  January,  1697,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  pro- 
ceeded on,  (with  various  applications  for  time  to  bring  up 
witnesses  at  a  distance,  &c.)  at  intervals,  till  the  3d  of  March, 
when  it  passed.  It  was  brought  to  the  Commons,  by  a  mes- 
sage from  the  Lords,  the  5th  of  March,  proceeded  on  the 
7th,  loth,  nth,  14th,  and  15th,  on  which  day,  after  a  full  ex- 
amination of  witnesses  on  both  sides,  and  hearing  of  Counsel, 
it  was  reported  without  amendments,  passed,  and  carried  to 
the  Lords. 

That  Lady  Macclesfield  was  convicted  of  the  crime  of 
which  she  was  accused,  cannot  be  denied  ;  but  the  question 
now  is,  whether  the  person  calling  himself  Richard  Savage 
was  her  son. 

It  has  been  said',  that  when  Earl  Rivers  was  dying,  and 
anxious  to  provide  for  all  his  natural  children,  he  was  in- 
formed by  Lady  Macclesfield  that  her  son  by  him  was  dead. 
Whether,  then,  shall  we  believe  that  this  was  a  malignant  lie. 
invented  by  a  mother  to  prevent  her  own  child  from  receiv- 
ing the  bounty  of  his  father,  which  was  accordingly  the  con- 
sequence, if  the  person  whose  life  Johnson  wrote,  was  her 
son  ;  or  shall  we  not  rather  believe  that  the  person  who  then 
assumed  the  name  of  Richard  Savage  was  an  impostor,  being 
in  reality  the  son  of  the  shoemaker,  under  whose  wife's  care* 

'  Johnson's  Works,  viii.  97.  '  lb.  p.  142.  '  lb.  p.  loi. 

*  According  to  Johnson's  account  (Johnson's  Works,  viii.  t02),  the 
shoemaker  under  whom  Savage  was  placed  on  trial  as  an  apprentice 
was  not  the  husband  of  his  nurse. 

Lady 


Aetat.  35.]    Lady  Macclesfield' s  alleged  cruelty.  199 

Lady  Macclesfield's  child  was  placed;  that  after  the  death  of 
the  real  Richard  Savage,  he  attempted  to  personate  him  ; 
and  that  the  fraud  being  known  to  Lady  Macclesfield,  he 
was  therefore  repulsed  by  her  with  just  resentment  ? 

There  is  a  strong  circumstance  in  support  of  the  last  sup- 
position, though  it  has  been  m.entioned  as  an  aggravation  of 
Lady  Macclesfield's  unnatural  conduct,  and  that  is,  her  hav- 
ing prevented  him  from  obtaining  the  benefit  of  a  legacy  left 
to  him  by  Mrs.  Lloyd  his  god-mother.  For  if  there  was  such 
a  legacy  left,  his  not  being  able  to  obtain  payment  of  it,  must 
be  imputed  to  his  consciousness  that  he  was  not  the  real 
person.  The  just  inference  should  be,  that  by  the  death  of 
Lady  Macclesfield's  child  before  its  god-mother,  the  legacy 
became  lapsed,  and  therefore  that  Johnson's  Richard  Savage 
was  an  impostor.  If  he  had  a  title  to  the  legacy,  he  could 
not  have  found  any  difficulty  in  recovering  it ;  for  had  the 
executors  resisted  his  claim,  the  whole  costs,  as  well  as  the 
legacy,  must  have  been  paid  by  them,  if  he  had  been  the 
child  to  whom  it  was  given'. 

The  talents  of  Savage,  and  the  mingled  fire,  rudeness, 
pride,  meanness,  and  ferocity  of  his  character^  concur  in 
making  it  credible  that  he  was  fit  to  plan  and  carry  on  an 
ambitious  and  daring  scheme  of  imposture,  similar  instances 
of  which  have  not  been  wanting  in  higher  spheres,  in  the 
history  of  different  countries,  and  have  had  a  considerable 
degree  of  success. 

*  He  was  in  his  tenth  year  when  she  died.  '  He  had  none  to  prose- 
cute his  claim,  to  shelter  him  from  oppression,  or  call  in  law  to  the 
assistance  of  justice."     Johnson's  Works,  viii.  p.  99. 

'■'  Johnson's  companion  appears  to  have  persuaded  that  lofty-minded 
man,  that  he  resembled  him  m  having  a  noble  pride  ;  for  Johnson, 
after  painting  in  strong  colours  the  quarrel  between  Lord  Tyrconnel 
and  Savage,  asserts  that '  the  spirit  of  Mr.  Savage,  indeed,  never  suffered 
him  to  solicit  a  reconciliation  :  he  returned  reproach  for  reproach,  and 
insult  for  insult.'  {lb.  p.  141.]  But  the  respectable  gentleman  to 
whom  I  have  alluded,  has  in  his  possession  a  letter  from  Savage,  after 
Lord  Tyrconnel  had  discarded  him,  addressed  to  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Gilbert,  his  Lordship's  Chaplain,  in  which  he  requests  him.  in  the 
humblest  manner,  to  represent  his  case  to  the  Viscount.    Boswell. 

Yet, 


2CK)  Lord  Tyrconnel.  [a.d.  1744. 

Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  to  the  companion  of  Johnson, 
(who  through  whatever  medium  he  was  conveyed  into  this 
world, — be  it  ever  so  doubtful  '  To  whom  related,  or  by 
whom  begot','  was,  unquestionably,  a  man  of  no  common 
endowments,)  we  must  allow  the  weight  of  general  repute 
as  to  his  Status  or  parentage,  though  illicit  ;  and  supposing 
him  to  be  an  impostor,  it  seems  strange  that  Lord  T)'rcon- 
nel,  the  nephew  of  Lady  Macclesfield,  should  patronise  him, 
and  even  admit  him  as  a  guest  in  his  family ^  Lastly,  it 
must  ever  appear  very  suspicious,  that  three  different  ac- 
counts of  the  Life  of  Richard  Savage,  one  published  in  The 
Plain  Dealer^  in  1724,  another  in  1727,  and  another  by  the 
powerful  pen  of  Johnson,  in  1744,  and  all  of  them  while 
Lady  Macclesfield  was  alive,  should,  notwithstanding  the 
severe  attacks  upon  her',  have  been  suffered  to  pass  without 
any  publick  and  effectual  contradiction. 

'  How  loved,  how  honoured  once,  avails  thee  not. 
To  whom  related,  or  by  whom  begot.' 

Pope's  Elegy  io  the  Memory  of  an  U ft/or tuftate  Lady. 

''  Trusting  to  Savage's  information,  Johnson  represents  this  unhappy 
man's  being  received  as  a  companion  by  Lord  Tyrconnel.  and  pensioned 
by  his  Lordship,  as  if  posteriour  to  Savage's  conviction  and  pardon. 
But  I  am  assured,  that  Savage  had  received  the  vohmtary  bounty  of 
Lord  Tyrconnel,  and  had  been  dismissed  by  him,  long  before  the  mur- 
der was  committed,  and  that  his  Lordship  was  very  instrumental  in 
procuring  Savage's  pardon,  by  his  intercession  with  the  Queen,  through 
Lady  Hertford.  If,  therefore,  he  had  been  desirous  of  prex'enting  the 
publication  by  Savage,  he  would  have  left  him  to  his  fate.  Indeed  I 
must  observe,  that  although  Johnson  mentions  that  Lord  Tyrconnel's 
patronage  of  Savage  was  '  upon  his  promise  to  lay  aside  his  desiffn  of 
exposing  the  cruelty  of  his  mother,'  [Johnson's  Works,  v'ni.  124J,  the 
great  biographer  has  forgotten  that  he  himself  has  mentioned,  that 
Savage's  story  had  been  told  several  years  before  in  The  Plain  Dealer ; 
from  which  he  quotes  this  strong  saying  of  the  generous  Sir  Richard 
Steele,  that  'the  inhumanity  of  his  mother  had  given  him  a  right  to 
find  every  good  man  his  father.'  \Ih.  p.  104.)  At  the  same  time  it 
must  be  acknowledged,  that  Lady  Macclesfield  and  her  relations  might 
still  wish  that  her  story  should  not  be  brought  into  more  conspicuous 
notice  by  the  satirical  pen  of  Savage.     Boswell. 

'  According  to  Johnson,  she  was  at  Bath  when  Savage's  poem  of 

1  have 


Aetat. 3.5]     Lady  Macclesfield's  latter  career.  201 

I  have  thus  endeavoured  to  sum  up  the  evidence  upon 
the  case,  as  fairly  as  I  can ;  and  the  result  seems  to  be,  that 
the  world  must  vibrate  in  a  state  of  uncertainty  as  to  what 
was  the  truth. 

This  digression,  I  trust,  will  not  be  censured,  as  it  relates 
to  a  matter  exceedingly  curious,  and  very  intimately  con- 
nected with  Johnson,  both  as  a  man  and  an  authour'. 


The  Bastard  was  published.  "She  could  not,'  he  wrote,  'enter  the 
assembly-rooms  or  cross  the  walks  without  being  saluted  with  some 
lines  from  The  Bastard.  This  was  perhaps  the  first  time  that  she  ever 
discovered  a  sense  of  shame,  and  on  this  occasion  the  power  of  wit 
was  very  conspicuous ;  the  wretch  who  had  without  scruple  proclaimed 
herself  an  adulteress,  and  who  had  first  endeavoured  to  starve  her  son, 
then  to  transport  him,  and  afterwards  to  hang  him,  was  not  able  to 
bear  the  representation  of  her  own  conduct ;  but  fled  from  reproach, 
though  she  felt  no  pain  from  guilt,  and  left  Bath  with  the  utmost 
haste  to  shelter  herself  among  the  crowds  of  London."  Johnson's 
Works,  viii.  141. 

'  Miss  Mason,  after  having  forfeited  the  title  of  Lady  Macclesfield 
by  divorce,  was  married  to  Colonel  Brett,  and,  it  is  said,  was  well 
known  in  all  the  polite  circles.  Colley  Gibber,  I  am  informed,  had  so 
high  an  opinion  of  her  taste  and  judgement  as  to  genteel  life,  and 
manners,  that  he  submitted  every  scene  of  his  Careless  Husband  to 
Mrs.  Brett's  revisal  and  correction.  Colonel  Brett  was  reported  to  be 
too  free  in  his  gallantry  with  his  Lady's  maid.  Mrs.  Brett  came  into 
a  room  one  day  in  her  own  house,  and  found  the  Colonel  and  her 
maid  both  fast  asleep  in  two  chairs.  She  tied  a  white  handkerchief 
round  her  husband's  neck,  which  was  a  sufficient  proof  that  she  had 
discovered  his  intrigue ;  but  she  never  at  any  time  took  notice  of  it 
to  him.  This  incident,  as  I  am  told,  gave  occasion  to  the  well-wrought 
scene  of  Sir  Charles  and  Lady  Easy  and  Edging.  Boswell.  Lady 
Macclesfield  died  1753,  aged  above  80.  Her  eldest  daughter,  by  Col. 
Brett,  was,  for  the  few  last  months  of  his  life,  the  mistress  of  George 
L  (Walpole's  Reminiscences,  i.  cv.)  Her  marriage  ten  years  after  her 
royal  lover's  death  is  thus  announced  in  the  Gent.  Mag.,  ijt,!  '-—'Sept. 
17.  Sir  W.  Leman,of  Northall,  Bart.,  to  Miss  Brett  [Britt]  0/ Bond 
Street,  an  heiress ;'  and  again  next  month — '  Oct.  8.  Sir  William  Le- 
man,  of  Northall,  Baronet,  to  Miss  Brett,  half  sister  to  Mr.  Savage,  son 
to  the  late  Earl  Rivers ;'  for  the  difference  of  date  I  know  not  how  to 
account ;  but  the  second  insertion  was,  no  doubt,  made  by  Savage  to 
countenance  his  own  pretensions.     Croker. 


^:^TABY^B/^^^, 


202  ObSEATAJ/OA'S   0,V  AIaCBETH.  [a.D.  1746. 

He  this  year  wrote  the  Preface  to  tJic  Harleian  Miscel- 
lany'.* The  selection  of  the  pamphlets  of  which  it  was 
composed  was  made  by  Mr.  Oldys',  a  man  of  eager  curiosity 
and  indefatigable  diligence,  who  first  exerted  that  spirit  of 
inquiry  into  the  literature  of  the  old  English  writers,  by 
which  the  works  of  our  great  dramatick  poet  have  of  late 
been  so  signally  illustrated. 

In  1745  he  published  a  pamphlet  entitled  Miscellaneous 
Observations  on  the  Tragedy  of  Macbeth,  with  remarks  on 
Sir  T.  H.'s  {Sir  Thojuas  Hanmers)  Edition  of  Shakspeare."^ 
To  which  he  affixed,  proposals  for  a  new  edition  of  that 
poet'. 

As  we  do  not  trace  any  thing  else  published  by  him  during 
the  course  of  this  year,  we  may  conjecture  that  he  was  occu- 
pied entirely  with  that  work.     But  the  little  encouragement 

*  '  Among  the  names  of  subscribers  to  the  Harleian  Miscellany 
there  occurs  that  of  "  Sarah  Johnson,  bookseller  in  Lichfield."  '  John- 
soniana,  p.  466. 

^  A  brief  account  of  Oldys  is  given  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  liv.  161,  260. 
Like  so  many  of  his  fellows  he  was  thrown  into  the  Fleet.  '  After 
poor  Oldys's  release,  such  was  his  affection  for  the  place  that  he  con- 
stantly spent  his  evenings  there.' 

^  In  the  Feb.  number  of  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  this  year  (p.  112)  is 
the  following  advertisement: — 'Speedily  will  be  published  (price  u.) 
Miscellaneous  Observations  on  the  Tragedy  of  Macbeth,  with  remarks 
on  Sir  T.  H.'s  edition  of  Shakespear  ;  to  which  is  affi.x'd  proposals  for 
a  new  edition  of  S/iakespear,  with  a  specimen.  Printed  for  J.  Roberts 
in  Warwick  Lane.'  In  the  March  number  (p.  114),  under  the  date  of 
March  31.  it  is  announced  that  it  will  be  published  on  April  6.  In 
spite  of  the  two  advertisements,  and  the  title-page  which  agrees  with 
the  advertisements,  I  believe  that  the  Proposals  were  not  published 
till  eleven  years  later  (see.  post,  end  of  1756).  I  cannot  hear  of  any 
copy  of  the  Miscellaneous  Observations  which  contains  them.  The 
advertisement  is  a  third  time  repeated  in  the  April  number  of  the 
Gent.  Mag.  for  1745  (p.  224).  but  the  Proposals  are  not  this  time  men- 
tioned. Tom  Davies  the  bookseller  gives  1756  as  the  date  of  their 
publication  {Misc.  and  Fjigitive  Pieces,  ii.  87).  Perhaps  Johnson  or 
the  booksellers  were  discouraged  by  Hanmer's  Shakespeare  as  well  as 
by  Warburton's.  Johnson  at  the  end  of  the  Miscellaneous  Observa- 
tions says  : — '  After  the  foregoing  pages  were  printed,  the  late  edition 
of  Shakespeare  ascribed  to  Sir  T.  H.  fell  into  my  hands." 

which 


Aetat.  37.]  The  Rebellioji  of  1 745.  203 

which  was  given  by  the  publick  to  his  anonymous  pro- 
posals for  the  execution  of  a  task  which  Warburton  was 
known  to  have  undertaken,  probably  damped  his  ardour. 
His  pamphlet,  however,  was  highly  esteemed,  and  was  for- 
tunate enough  to  obtain  the  approbation  even  of  the  super- 
cilious Warburton  himself,  who,  in  the  Preface  to  his  Shaks- 
peare  published  two  years  afterwards,  thus  mentioned  it : 
'  As  to  all  those  things  which  have  been  published  under 
the  titles  of  Essays,  Remarks,  Observations,  &c.  on  Shaks- 
peare,  if  you  except  some  critical  notes  on  Macbeth,  given  as 
a  specimen  of  a  projected  edition,  and  written,  as  appears, 
by  a  man  of  parts  and  genius,  the  rest  are  absolutely  below 
a  serious  notice.' 

Of  this  flattering  distinction  shewn  to  him  b\'  W  'nirton, 
a  very  grateful  remembrance  was  ever  entertained  bj,  John- 
son, who  said,  '  He  praised  me  at  a  time  when  praise  was  of 
value  to  me.' 

1746:  ^TAT.  37.] — In  1746  it  is  probable  that  he  was  still 
employed  upon  his  Shakspeare,  which  perhaps  he  laid  aside 
for  a  time,  upon  account  of  the  high  expectations  which 
were  formed  of  Warburton's  edition  of  that  great  poet'.  It 
is  somewhat  curious,  that  his  literary  career  appears  to  have 
been  almost  totally  suspended  in  the  years  1745  and  1746, 
those  years  which  were  marked  by  a  civil  war  in  Great- 
Britain,  when  a  rash  attempt  was  made  to  restore  the  House 
of  Stuart  to  the  throne.  That  he  had  a  tenderness  for  that 
unfortunate  House,  is  well  known  ;  and  some  may  fancifully 
imagine,  that  a  sympathetick  anxiety  impeded  the  exertion 
of  his  intellectual  powers :  but  I  am  inclined  to  think,  that 
he  was,  during  this  time,  sketching  the  outlines  of  his  great 
philological  work". 

'  '  The  excellence  of  the  edition  proved  to  be  by  no  means  proportion- 
ate to  the  arrogance  of  the  editor."     Cambridge  Shakespeart\  \.  .x.xxiv. 

*  'When  you  see  Mr.  Johnson  pray  [give]  my  compliments,  and  tell 
him  I  esteem  him  as  a  great  genius — quite  lost  both  to  himself  and 
the  world.'  Gilbert  Walmesley  to  Garrick,  Nov.  3,  1746.  Garrick  Cor- 
respondence, i.  45.  Mr.  Walmesley's  letter  does  not  shew  that  Johnson 
was  idle.     The  old  man  had  expected  great  things  from  him.     '  I  have 

None 


204  yohnson  not  aii  ardent  yacobite.      [a.d.  1747. 

None  of  his  letters  during  those  years  are  extant,  so  far 
as  I  can  discover.     This  is  much  to  be  regretted.     It  might 

great  hopes,'  he  had  written  in  1737  (see  antt\  p.  118),  'that  he  will 
turn  out  a  fine  tragedy  writer.'  In  the  nine  years  in  which  Johnson 
had  been  in  town  he  had  done,  no  doubt,  much  admirable  work ;  but 
by  his  poem  of  London  only  was  he  known  to  the  public.  His  Z//> 
of  Savage  did  not  bear  his  name.  His  Observatiojis  on  Macbeth  were 
published  in  April,  1745;  his  Plan  of  the  Dictionary  in  1747.  What 
was  Johnson  doing  meanwhile?  Boswell  conjectures  that  he  was 
engaged  on  his  Shakespeare  and  his  Dictionary.  That  he  went  on 
working  at  his  Shakespeare  when  the  prospect  of  publishing  was  so 
remote  that  he  could  not  issue  his  proposals  is  very  unlikely.  That 
he  had  been  for  some  time  engaged  on  his  Dictionary  before  he  ad- 
dressed Lord  Chesterfield  is  shewn  by  the  opening  sentences  of  the 
Plan.  Mr.  Croker's  conjecture  that  he  was  absent  or  concealed  on 
account  of  some  difficulties  which  had  arisen  through  the  rebellion 
of  1745  is  absurd.  At  no  time  of  his  life  had  he  been  an  ardent  Jaco- 
bite. 'I  have  heard  him  declare,"  writes  Boswell,  '  that  if  holding 
up  his  right  hand  would  have  secured  victory  at  Culloden  to  Prince 
Charles's  army,  he  was  not  sure  he  would  have  held  it  up ;'  post,  July 
14,  1763.  'He  had  never  in  his  life  been  in  a  nonjuring  meeting- 
house ;'  post,  June  9,  1784. 

For  the  fact  that  he  wrote  very  little,  if  indeed  anything,  in  the 
Gent.  Mag-,  during  these  years  more  than  one  reason  may  be  given. 
In  the  first  place,  public  affairs  take  up  an  unusual  amount  of  room 
in  its  columns.     Thus  in  the  number  for  Dec.  1745  we  read: — 'Our 
readers  being  too  much  alarmed  by  the  present  rebellion  to  relish 
with  their  usual  delight  the  Debates  in  the  Senate  of  Lilliput  we  shall 
postpone  them  for  a  season,  that  we  may  be  able  to  furnish  out  a 
fuller  entertainment  of  what  we  find   to  be  more  suitable  to  their 
present  taste."     In  the  Preface  it  is  stated  : — '  We  have  sold  more  of 
our  books  than  we  desire  for  several  months  past,  and  are  heartily 
sorry  for  the  occasion  of  it,  the  present  troubles.'     During  these  years 
then  much  less  space  was  given  to  literature.     But  besides  this,  John- 
son likely  enough  refused  to  write  for  the  Magazine  when  it  shewed 
itself  strongly  Hanoverian.     He  would  highly  disapprove  of  A  Xc-^' 
Protestant  Litany,  which  was  written  after  the  following  fashion  : — 
'  May  Spaniards,  or  French,  all  who  join  with  a  Highland, 
In  disturbing  the  peace  of  this  our  bless'd  island, 
Meet  tempests  on  sea  and  halters  on  dry  land. 
We  beseech  Thee  to  hear  us,  good  Lord.' 

Gent.  Mag.  .xv.  551. 
He  would   be  disgusted  the  following  year  at  seeing  the  Duke  of 

afford 


Aetat.  :j8.]  Tiie   LifE    OF  AlfRED.  205 

afford  some  entertainment  to  see  how  he  then  expressed 
himself  to  his  private  friends,  concerning  State  affairs.  Dr. 
Adams  informs  me,  that  '  at  this  time  a  favourite  object 
which  he  had  in  contemplation  was  The  Life  of  Alfred ;  in 
which,  from  the  warmth  with  which  he  spoke  about  it,  he 
would,  I  believe,  had  he  been  master  of  his  own  will,  have 
engaged  himself,  rather  than  on  any  other  subject.' 

1747  :  ^TAT.  38.] — In  1747  it  is  supposed  that  the  Gentle- 
jftans  Magazine  for  May  was  enriched  by  him  with  five' 
short  poetical  pieces,  distinguished  by  three  asterisks.  The 
first  is  a  translation,  or  rather  a  paraphrase,  of  a  Latin 
Epitaph  on  Sir  Thomas  Hanmer.  Whether  the  Latin  was 
his,  or  not,  I  have  never  heard,  though  I  should  think  it 
probably  was,  if  it  be  certain  that  he  wrote  the  English"; 
as  to  which  my  only  cause  of  doubt  is,  that  his  slighting 
character  of  Hanmer  as  an  editor,  in  his  Observations  o)i 
Macbeth,  is  very  different  from  that  in  the  '  Elpitaph.'  It 
may  be  said,  that  there  is  the  same  contrariety  between  the 
character  in  the  Observations,  and  that  in  his  own  Preface  to 
Shakspeare' ;  but  a  considerable  time  elapsed  between  the 

Cumberland  praised  as  '  the  greatest  man  alive  '  {Gent.  Mag.  xvi.  235), 
and  sung  in  verse  that  would  have  almost  disgraced  Cibber  (p.  36). 
It  is  remarkable  that  there  is  no  mention  of  Johnson's  Plan  of  a  Dic- 
tionary in  the  Magazine.  Perhaps  some  coolness  had  risen  between 
him  and  Cave. 

'  Boswell  proceeds  to  mention  six. 

'  In  Mrs.  Williams's  Miscellanies,  in  which  this  paraphrase  is  in- 
serted, it  is  stated  that  the  Latin  epitaph  was  written  by  Dr.  Freind. 
I  do  not  think  that  the  English  version  is  by  Johnson.  I  should  be 
sorry  to  ascribe  to  him  such  lines  as  : — 

'  Illustrious  age !  how  bright  thy  glories  shone, 
When  Hanmer  filled  the  chair  —  and  Anne  the  throne.' 
•  In  the  Observations,  Johnson,  writing  of  Hanmer,  says  : — '  Surely 
the  weapons  of  criticism  ought  not  to  be  blunted  against  an  editor 
who  can   imagine  that  he  is   restoring  poetry  while  he  is  amusing 
himself  with  alterations  like  these  :— 
For, — This  is  the  sergeant 

Who  like  a  good  and  hardy  soldier  fought  r 

— This  is  the  sergeant  who 

Like  a  right  good  and  hardy  soldier  fought. 

one 


2o6        Poems  wrongly  assigned  to  Johnson,  [a.d.  1747. 

one  publication  and  the  other,  whereas  the  Observations  and 
the  '  Epitaph  '  came  close  together.  The  others  are  '  To 
Miss ,  on  her  giving  the  Authour  a  gold  and  silk  net- 
work Purse  of  her  own  weaving ;'  '  Stella  in  Mourning ;' 
*  The  Winter's  Walk  ;'  '  An  Ode  ;'  and,  '  To  Lyce,  an  elderly- 
Lady.'  I  am  not  positive  that  all  these  were  his  produc- 
tions' ;  but  as  'The  Winter's  Walk'  has  never  been  contro- 
verted to  be  his,  and  all  of  them  have  the  same  mark,  it  is 
reasonable  to  conclude  that  they  are  all  written  by  the  same 
hand.  Yet  to  the  Ode,  in  which  we  find  a  passage  very 
characteristick  of  him,  being  a  learned  description  of  the 
gout, 

'  Unhappy,  whom  to  beds  of  pain 
Arthritick  tyranny  consigns ;' 


Such  harmless  industry  may  surely  be  forgiven,  if  it  cannot  be  praised  ; 
may  he  therefore  never  want  a  monosyllable  who  can  use  it  with 
such  wonderful  dexterity."  Johnson's  Works,  v.  93.  In  his  Preface 
to  Shakespeare  published  eighteen  years  later,  he  describes  Hanmer 
as  '  A  man,  in  my  opinion,  eminently  qualified  by  nature  for  such 
studies.'  lb.  p.  139.  The  editors  of  the  Cambridge  Shakespeare 
(i.  xxxii)  thus  write  of  Hanmer  ; — '  A  country  gentleman  of  great  in- 
genuity and  lively  fancy,  but  with  no  knowledge  of  older  literature, 
no  taste  for  research,  and  no  ear  for  the  rhythm  of  earlier  English 
verse,  amused  his  leisure  hours  by  scribbling  down  his  own  and  his 
friend's  guesses  in  Pope's  Shakespeare! 

'  In  the  Utiiversal  Visiter,  to  which  Johnson  contributed,  the  mark 
which  is  affixed  to  some  pieces  unquestionably  his,  is  also  found  sub- 
joined to  others,  of  which  he  certainly  was  not  the  author.  The  mark 
therefore  will  not  ascertain  the  poems  in  question  to  have  been  writ- 
ten by  him.  They  were  probably  the  productions  of  Hawkesworth, 
who,  it  is  believed,  was  afflicted  with  the  gout.     M alone. 

It  is  most  unlikely  that  Johnson  wrote  such  poor  poems  as  these. 
I  shall  not  easily  be  persuaded  that  the  following  lines  are  his : — 
'  Love  warbles  in  the  vocal  groves, 

And  vegetation  paints  the  plain.' 
'  And  love  and  hate  alike  implore 

The  skies  —  "That  Stella  mourn  no  more."' 

'  The  Winter's  Walk  '  has  two  good  lines,  but  these  may  have  been 
supplied  by  Johnson.  The  lines  to  '  Lyce,  an  elderly  Lady,' would,  if 
written  by  him,  have  been  taken  as  a  satire  on  his  wife. 

there 


Aetat.  38.J  Poems  zvrongly  assig7ied  to  yohnson.        207 

there  is  the  following  note:  'The  authour  being  ill  of  the 
gout :'  but  Johnson  was  not  attacked  with  that  distemper 
till  at  a  very  late  period  of  his  life'.  May  not  this,  however, 
be  a  poetical  fiction  ?  Why  may  not  a  poet  suppose  himself 
to  have  the  gout,  as  well  as  suppose  himself  to  be  in  love, 
of  which  we  have  innumerable  instances,  and  which  has 
been  admirably  ridiculed  by  Johnson  in  his  Life  of  Cowley'^? 
I  have  also  some  difficulty  to  believe  that  he  could  produce 
such  a  group  of  conceits^  as  appear  in  the  verses  to  Lyce,  in 
which  he  claims  for  this  ancient  personage  as  good  a  right  to 
be  assimilated  to  heaven,  as  nymphs  whom  other  poets  have 
flattered ;  he  therefore  ironically  ascribes  to  her  the  at- 
tributes of  the  sky,  in  such  stanzas  as  this  : 

.  '  Her  teeth  the  night  with  darktiess  dies, 
She's  starred  with  pimples  o'er ; 
Her  tongue  like  nimble  lighttiing  plies, 
And  can  with  thunder  roar.' 

But  as  at  a  very  advanced  age  he  could  condescend  to 
trifle  in  yiamby-paniby^  rhymes,  to  please  Mrs.  Thrale  and  her 
daughter,  he  may  have,  in  his  earlier  years,  composed  such  a 
piece  as  this. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  in  this  first  edition  of  TJie  Winter  s 
Walk,  the  concluding  line  is  much  more  Johnsonian  than 
it  was  afterwards  printed  ;  for  in  subsequent  editions,  after 
praying  Stella  to  '  snatch  him  to  her  arms,'  he  says, 

'And  shield  me  from  the  ills  of  life.' 

Whereas  in  the  first  edition  it  is 

'And  hide  me  from  the  sight  of  life.* 

*  Stepost  under  Sept.  18,  1783. 

*  See  Johnson's  Works,  vii.  4,  34. 

^  Boswell  italicises  conceits  to  shew  that  he  is  using  it  in  the  sense 
in  which  Johnson  uses  it  in  his  criticism  of  Cowley: — 'These  conceits 
Addison  calls  mixed  wit ;  that  is,  wit  which  consists  of  thoughts  true 
in  one  sense  of  the  expression  and  false  in  the  other.'     lb.  vii.  35. 

*  Namby  Pamby  was  the  name  given  to  Ambrose  PhiHps  by  Pope. 
lb.  viii.  395. 

A  horrour 


2o8  Verses  on  Lord  Loval.  [a.d.  1747. 

A  horrour  at  life  in  general  is  more  consonant  with  John- 
son's habitual  gloomy  cast  of  thought. 

I  have  heard  him  repeat  with  great  energy  the  following 
verses,  which  appeared  in  the  Gcntlc)>iaii  s  Magazine  for 
April  this  year ;  but  I  have  no  authority  to  say  they  were 
his  own.  Indeed  one  of  the  best  criticks  of  our  age'  suggests 
to  me,  that  'the  word  mdiffcrcntly  being  used  in  the  sense  of 
witJiout  concern,'  and  being  also  very  unpoetical,  renders  it 
improbable  that  they  should  have  been  his  composition. 

'  On  Lord  Lovat's  Execution. 

'  Pity'd  by  geritle  minds  Kil.marnock.  died ; 
The  brave,  Balmkrino,  were  on  thy  side; 
Radcliffe,  unhappy  in  his  crimes  of  youth  ^ 
Steady  in  what  he  still  mistook  for  truth, 
Beheld  his  death  so  decently  unmov'd. 
The  soft  lamented,  and  the  brave  approv'd. 

'  Malone  most  likely  is  meant.  Mr.  Croker  says: — 'Johnson  has 
"  indifferently  "  in  the  sense  of  "  without  concern  "  in  his  Dictionary, 
with  this  example  from  Shakespeare,  '  And  I  will  look  on  death  in- 
differently." '  Johnson  however  here  defines  indifferently  as  in  a 
nentral  state ;  without  wish  or  aversion ;  which  is  not  the  same  as 
without  concern.  The  passage,  which  is  from  Julius  Ccpsar,  i.  2,  is  not 
correctly  given.     It  is — 

'Set  honour  in  one  eye  and  death  i'  the  other 
And  I  will  look  on  both  indifferently." 
We  may  compare  Johnson's  use  of  indifferent  in  his  Letter  to  Chester- 
field,/^j'/,  Feb.  7,  1755  : — 'The  notice  which  you  have  been  pleased  to 
take  of  my  labours  .  .  .  has  been  delayed  till  I  am  indifferent,  and  can- 
not enjoy  it.' 

'  '  Radcliffe.  when  quite  a  boy,  had  been  engaged  in  the  rebellion 
of  171 5,  and  being  attainted  had  escaped  from  Newgate.  .  .  .  During 
the  insurrection  [of  1745],  having  been  captured  on  board  a  French 
vessel  bound  for  Scotland,  he  was  arraigned  on  his  original  sentence 
which  had  slumbered  so  long.  The  only  trial  now  conceded  to  him 
was  confined  to  his  identity.  For  such  a  course  there  was  no  prec- 
edent, except  in  the  case  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  which  had  brought 
shame  upon  the  reign  of  James  I.'  Campbell's  Chancellors  (edit. 
1846),  V.  108.  Campbell  adds,  'his  execution,  I  think,  reflects  great 
disgrace  upon  Lord  Hardwicke  [the  Lord  Chancellor].' 

But 


Actat.  38.]  A  Prologue  by  JoJinson.  209 

But  Lovat's  fate*  indifferently  we  view, 
True  to  no  King,  to  no  religion  true  : 
No  fair  forgets  the  ruin  he  has  done ; 
No  child  laments  the  tyrant  of  his  son; 
No  tory  pities,  thinking  what  he  was  ; 
No  whig  compassions,_/(>r  he  left  the  cause ; 
The  brave  regret  not,  for  he  was  not  brave  ; 
The  honest  mourn  not,  knowing  him  a  knave^ !' 

This  year  his  old  pupil  and  friend,  David  Garrick,  having 
become  joint  patentee  and  manager  of  Drury-lane  theatre, 
Johnson  honoured  his  opening  of  it  with  a  Prologue',* 
which  for  just  and  manly  dramatick  criticism,  on  the  whole 
range  of  the  English  stage,  as  well  as  for  poetical  excellence*, 


*  In  the  original  end. 

'  These  verses  are  somewhat  too  severe  on  the  extraordinary  person 
who  is  the  chief  figure  in  them,  for  he  was  undoubtedly  brave.  His 
pleasantry  during  his  solemn  trial  (in  which,  by  the  way,  I  have  heard 
Mr.  David  Hume  observe,  that  we  have  one  of  the  very  few  speeches 
of  Mr.  Murray,  now  Earl  of  Mansfield,  authentically  given)  was  very 
remarkable.  When  asked  if  he  had  any  questions  to  put  to  Sir 
Everard  Fawkener,  who  was  one  of  the  strongest  witnesses  against 
him,  he  answered,  '  I  only  wish  him  joy  of  his  young  wife.'  And  after 
sentence  of  death,  in  the  horrible  terms  in  cases  of  treason,  was  pro- 
nounced upon  him,  and  he  was  retiring  from  the  bar,  he  said,  '  Fare 
you  well,  my  Lords,  we  shall  not  all  meet  again  in  one  place.'  He 
behaved  with  perfect  composure  at  his  execution,  and  called  out 
'  Duke  et  decorum  est  pro  patrid  inori! 

['  What  joys,  what  glories  round  him  wait, 
Who  bravely  for  his  country  dies  !' 

Francis.     Horace,  OitV.s-,  iii.  2.  13.]     Boswell. 
'  Old    Lovat   was   beheaded   yesterday,'   wrote    Horace  Walpole   on 
April  10,  1747,  'and  died  extremely  well:  without  passion,  affectation, 
buffoonery,  or  timidity ;    his   behaviour  was   natural   and    intrepid.' 
Letters,  ii.  77. 

^  S^^  post,  1780,  in  Mr.  Langton's  Collection. 

"  My  friend,  Mr.  Courtenay,  whose  eulogy  on  Johnson's  Latin  Poetry 
has  been  inserted  in  this  Work  \a71te,  p.  72],  is  no  less  happy  in  prais- 
ing his  English  poetry. 

But  hark,  he  sings !  the  strain  ev'n  Pope  admires ; 
Indignant  virtue  her  own  bard  inspires. 
I.— 14  is 


2IO  The  Plan  of  the  Dictionary,     [a.d.  1747. 

is  unrivalled.  Like  the  celebrated  Epilogue  to  the  Dis- 
tressed Mother\  it  was,  during  the  season,  often  called  for  by 
the  audience.  The  most  striking  and  brilliant  passages  of  it 
have  been  so  often  repeated,  and  are  so  well  recollected  by 
all  the  lovers  of  the  drama  and  of  poetry,  that  it  would  be 
superfluous  to  point  them  out.  In  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine 
for  December  this  year,  he  inserted  an  '  Ode  on  Winter,' 
which  is,  I  think,  an  admirable  specimen  of  his  genius  for 
lyrick  poetry'. 

But  the  year  1747  is  distinguished  as  the  epoch,  when 
Johnson's  arduous  and  important  work,  his  DlCTlONAR\'  OK 
THE  English  Language,  was  announced  to  the  world,  by 
the  publication  of  its  Plan  or  Prospectus. 

How  long  this  immense  undertaking  had  been  the  object 
of  his  contemplation,  I  do  not  know.  I  once  asked  him  by 
what  means  he  had  attained  to  that  astonishing  knowledge 
of  our  language,  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  realise  a  design 
of  such  extent,  and  accumulated  difficulty.  He  told  me, 
that  '  it  was  not  the  effect  of  particular  study  ;  but  that  it 
had  grown  up  in  his  mind  insensibly.'  I  have  been  informed 
by  Mr.  James  Dodsley,  that  several  years  before  this  period, 

Sublime  as  Juvenal  he  pours  his  lays, 
And  with  the  Roman  shares  congenial  praise; — 
In  glowing  numbers  now  he  fires  the  age. 
And  Shakspeare's  sun  relumes  the  clouded  stage.    Bosweli,. 
'  The  play  is  by  Ambrose   Philips.     '  It  was  concluded  with  the 
most  successful  Epilogue  that  was  ever  yet  spoken  on  the  English 
theatre.     The  three  first  nights  it  was  recited  twice ;  and  not  only 
continued  to  be  demanded  through  the  run,  as  it  is  termed,  of  the 
play ;   but,  whenever  it  is  recalled  to  the  stage,  where  by  peculiar 
fortune,  though  a  copy  from  the  French,  it  yet  keeps  its  place,  the 
Epilogue  is  still  expected,  and  is  still  spoken.'     Johnson's  Works,  viii. 
389.    See  post,  April  21,  1773,  note  on  Eustace  Budgel.    The  Epilogue 
is  given  in  vol.  v.  p.  228  of  Bohn's  Addison,  and  the  great  success  that 
it  met  with  is  described  in  The  Spectator,  No.  341. 
'  Such  poor  stufT  as  the  following  is  certainly  not  by  Johnson  : — 
'  Let  musick  sound  the  voice  of  joy ! 
Or  mirth  repeat  the  jocund  tale ; 
Let  Love  his  wanton  wiles  employ. 
And  o'er  tlic  season   wine  prevail." 

when 


Aetat.  38.]       ThE   PlAN  OF    THE    DICTIONARY.  211 

when  Johnson  was  one  day  sitting  in  his  brother  Robert's 
shop,  he  heard  his  brother  suggest  to  him,  that  a  Dictionary 
of  the  EngHsh  Language  would  be  a  work  that  would  be 
well  received  by  the  publick' ;  that  Johnson  seemed  at  first 
to  catch  at  the  proposition,  but,  after  a  pause,  said,  in  his 
abrupt  decisive  manner,  '  I  believe  I  shall  not  undertake  it.' 
That  he,  however,  had  bestowed  much  thought  upon  the 
subject,  before  he  published  his  Plan,  is  evident  from  the  en- 
larged, clear,  and  accurate  views  which  it  exhibits ;  and  we 
find  him  mentioning  in  that  tract,  that  many  of  the  writers 
whose  testimonies  were  to  be  produced  as  authorities,  were 
selected  by  Pope^ ;  which  proves  that  he  had  been  furnished, 
probably  by  Mr.  Robert  Dodsley,  with  whatever  hints  that 
eminent  poet  had  contributed  towards  a  great  literary  proj- 
ect, that  had  been  the  subject  of  important  consideration  in 
a  former  reign. 

The  booksellers  who  contracted  with  Johnson,  single  and 
unaided,  for  the  execution  of  a  work,  which  in  other  coun- 
tries has  not  been  effected  but  by  the  co-operating  exertions 
of  many,  were  Mr.  Robert  Dodsley,  Mr.  Charles  Hitch',  Mr. 
Andrew  Millar,  the  two  Messieurs  Longman,  and  the  two 
Messieurs  Knapton.  The  price  stipulated  was  fifteen  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  pounds\ 

'  '  Dodsley  first  mentioned  to  me  the  scheme  of  an  English  Diction- 
ary ;  but  I  had  long  thought  of  it.'     Post,  Oct.  lo,  1779. 

*  It  would  seem  from  the  passage  to  which  Boswell  refers  that  Pope 
had  wished  that  Johnson  should  undertake  the  Di'ctiojiary.  Johnson, 
in  mentioning  Pope,  says  : — '  Of  whom  I  may  be  justified  in  affirming 
that  were  he  still  alive,  solicitous  as  he  was  for  the  success  of  this 
work,  he  would  not  be  displeased  that  I  have  undertaken  it.'  Works, 
V.  20.  As  Pope  died  on  May  30,  1744,  this  renders  it  likely  that  the 
work  was  begun  earlier  than  Boswell  thought. 

^  In  the  title-page  of  the  first  edition  after  the  name  of  Hitch  comes 
that  of  L.  Hawes. 

*  '  During  the  progress  of  the  work  he  had  received  at  different 
times  the  amount  of  his  contract ;  and  when  his  receipts  were  pro- 
duced to  him  at  a  tavern-dinner  given  by  the  booksellers,  it  appeared 
that  he  had  been  paid  a  hundred  pounds  and  upwards  more  than  his 
due.'     Murphy's  7'^//«i'6i;/,  p.  78.     See /(?.?/,  beginning  of  1756. 

The 


212         Address  lo  the  Earl  of  Chesterfield,   [a.h.  1747. 

The  Plan  was  addressed  to  Philip  Dormer,  Earl  of  Chester- 
field, then  one  of  his  Majesty's  Principal  Secretaries  of 
State'  ;  a  nobleman  who  was  very  ambitious  of  literary  dis- 
tinction, and  who,  upon  being  informed  of  the  design,  had 
expressed  himself  in  terms  very  favourable  to  its  success. 
There  is,  perhaps  in  every  thing  of  any  consequence,  a  secret 
history  which  it  would  be  amusing  to  know,  could  we  have 
it  authentically  communicated.  Johnson  told  me',  '  Sir,  the 
way  in  which  the  Plan  of  my  Dictionary  came  to  be  in- 
scribed to  Lord  Chesterfield,  was  this :  I  had  neglected  to 
write  it  by  the  time  appointed.  Dodsley  suggested  a  desire 
to  have  it  addressed  to  Lord  Chesterfield.  I  laid  hold  of 
this  as  a  pretext  for  delay,  that  it  might  be  better  done,  and 
let  Dodsley  have  his  desire.  I  said  to  my  friend,  Dr.  Ba- 
thurst,  "  Now  if  any  good  comes  of  my  addressing  to  Lord 
Chesterfield,  it  will  be  ascribed  to  deep  policy,  when,  in  fact, 
it  was  only  a  casual  excuse  for  laziness."  ' 

It  is  worthy  of  observation,  that  the  Plan  has  not  only 
the  substantial  merit  of  comprehension,  perspicuity,  and 
precision,  but  that  the  language  of  it  is  unexceptionably  ex- 
cellent ;  it  being  altogether  free  from  that  inflation  of  style, 
and  those  uncommon  but  apt  and  encrgetick  words',  which 
in  some  of  his  writings  have  been  censured,  with  more 
petulance  than  justice  ;  and  never  was  there  a  more  dignified 

'  *  The  truth  is,  that  the  several  situations  which  I  have  been  in 
having  made  me  long  \.\\^  plastron  fbuttj  of  dedications,  I  am  become 
as  callous  to  flattery  as  some  people  are  to  abuse.'  Lord  Chesterfield, 
date  of  Dec.  15,  1755  ;  Chesterfield's  Misc.  Works,  iv.  266. 

*  September  22,  1777,  going  from  Ashbourne  in  Derbyshire,  to  see 
Islam.     BoswELL. 

*  Boswell  here  says  too  much,  as  the  following  passages  in  the  Plan 
prove : — '  Who  upon  this  survey  can  forbear  to  wish  that  these  fun- 
damental atoms  of  our  speech  might  obtain  the  firmness  and  im- 
mutability of  the  primogenial  and  constituent  particles  of  matter?' 
'  Those  translators  who,  for  want  of  understanding  the  characteristical 
difference  of  tongues,  have  formed  a  chaotick  dialect  of  heterogeneous 
phrases ;'  '  In  one  part  refinement  will  be  subtili.sed  beyond  exactness, 
and  evidence  dilated  in  another  beyond  perspicuity.'  Johnson's  Works, 
V.  12,  21.  22. 

Strain 


Aetat.  38.]  The  style  of  the  Plan.  2 1 3 

strain  of  compliment  than  that  in  which  he  courts  the  atten- 
tion of  one  who,  he  had  been  persuaded  to  beheve,  would  be 
a  respectable  patron. 

'  With  regard  to  questions  of  purity  or  propriety,  (says  he)  I  was 
once  in  doubt  whether  I  should  not  attribute  to  myself  too  much 
in  attempting  to  decide  them,  and  whether  my  province  was  to  ex- 
tend beyond  the  proposition  of  the  question,  and  the  display  of  the 
suffrages  on  each  side  ;  but  I  have  been  since  determined  by  your 
Lordship's  opinion,  to  interpose  my  own  judgement,  and  shall 
therefore  endeavour  to  support  what  appears  to  me  most  conso- 
nant to  grammar  and  reason.  Ausonius  thought  that  modesty  for- 
bade him  to  plead  inability  for  a  task  to  which  Caesar  had  judged 
him  equal  : 

Cur  mc  posse  negcm  posse  quod  ille  putat '  1 

And  I  may  hope,  my  Lord,  that  since  you,  whose  authority  in  our 
language  is  so  generally  acknowledged,  have  commissioned  me  to 
declare  my  own  opinion,  I  shall  be  considered  as  exercising  a  kind 
of  vicarious  jurisdiction  ;  and  that  the  power  which  might  have 
been  denied  to  my  own  claim,  will  be  readily  allowed  me  as  the 
delegate  of  your  Lordship.' 

This  passage  proves,  that  Johnson's  addressing  his  Plan 
to  Lord  Chesterfield  was  not  merely  in  consequence  of  the 
result  of  a  report  by  means  of  Dodsley,  that  the  Earl 
favoured  the  design  ;  but  that  there  had  been  a  particular 
communication  with  his  Lordship  concerning  it.  Dr.  Tay- 
lor told  me,  that  Johnson  sent  his  Pla}i  to  him  in  manu- 
script, for  his  perusal ;  and  that  when  it  was  lying  upon  his 
table,  Mr.  William  Whitehead^  happened  to  pay  him  a  visit, 
and  being  shewn  it,  was  highly  pleased  with  such  parts 
of  it  as  he  had  time  to  read,  and  begged  to  take  it  home 
with   him,  which   he   was   allowed   to   do ;    that   from   him 


*  PiXiSOviwxs,  Epigravi  i.  12. 

*  Whitehead  in  1757  succeeded  Colley  Cibber  as  poet-laureate,  and 
dying  in  1785  was  followed  by  Thomas  Warton.  From  Warton  the 
line  of  succession  is  Pye,  Southey,  Wordsworth,  Tennyson.  Stc  post, 
under  June  13,  1763. 

it 


2  14  The  Earl  of  Orrery.  [a. d.  1747. 

it  got  into  the  hands  of  a  noble  Lord,  who  carried  it  to 
Lord  Chesterfield'.  When  Taylor  observed  this  might  be 
an  advantage,  Johnson  replied, '  No,  Sir  ;  it  would  have  come 
out  with  more  bloom,  if  it  had  not  been  seen  before  by  any 
body.' 

The  opinion  conceived  of  it  by  another  noble  authour, 
appears  from  the  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  the  Earl 
of  Orrer)-  to  Dr.  Birch  : 

'Caledon.  Dec.  30.  1747. 

'  I  have  just  now  seen  the  specimen  of  Mr.  Johnson's  Dictionary, 
addressed  to  Lord  Chesterfield.  I  am  much  pleased  with  the  plan, 
and  I  think  the  specimen  is  one  of  the  best  that  1  have  ever  read. 
Most  specimens  disgust,  rather  than  prejudice  us  in  favour  of  the 
work  to  follow  ;  but  the  language  of  Mr.  Johnson's  is  good,  and 
the  arguments  are  properly  and  modestly  expressed.  However, 
some  expressions  may  be  cavilled  at,  but  they  are  trifles.  I'll 
mention  one.  The  barren  Laurel.  'l"he  laurel  is  not  barren,  in 
any  sense  whatever ;  it  bears  fruits  and  flowers ".  Sed  hie  sunt 
nug(B,  and  I  have  great  expectation  from  the  performance'.' 

That  he  was  fully  aware  of  the  arduous  nature  of  the  un- 
dertaking, he  acknowledges;  and  shews  himself  perfectly 
sensible  of  it  in  the  conclusion  of  his  PIa)i* ;  but  he  had  a 


'  Hawkins  (Z/J/V,  p.  176)  likewise  says  that  the  manuscript  passed 
through  Whitehead  and  'other  hands'  before  it  reached  Chesterfield. 
Mr.  Croker  had  seen  '  a  draft  of  the  prospectus  carefully  written  by 
an  amanuensis,  but  signed  in  great  form  by  Johnson's  own  hand.  It 
was  evidently  that  which  was  laid  before  Lord  Chesterfield.  Some 
useful  remarks  are  made  in  his  lordship's  hand,  and  some  in  another. 
Johnson  adopted  all  these  suggestions.' 

'^  This  poor  piece  of  criticism  confirms  what  Johnson  said  of  Lord 
Orrery : — '  He  grasped  at  more  than  his  abilities  could  reach  ;  tried 
to  pass  for  a  better  talker,  a  better  writer,  and  a  better  thinker  than 
he  was.'  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Sept.  22,  1773.  See  post,  under  April  7, 
1778. 

^  Birch,  MSS.  Brit.  Mus.  4303.     Boswell. 

*  '  When  I  survey  the  Plajt  which  I  have  laid  before  you,  I  cannot, 
my  Lord,  but  confess  that  I  am  frighted  at  its  extent,  and,  like  the 
soldiers  of  Caesar,  look  on  Britain  as  a  new  world,  which  it  is  almost 
madness  to  invade.'     Johnson's  Works,  v.  21. 

Jioble 


Aetat.  38.J  The  Dictionary  of  the  French  Academy.   2 1 5 

noble  consciousness  of  his  own  abilities,  which  enabled  him 
to  go  on  with  undaunted  spirit'. 

Dr.  Adams  found  him  one  day  busy  at  his  Dictionary, 
when  the  following  dialogue  ensued.  'Adams.  This  is  a 
great  work,  Sir.  How  are  you  to  get  all  the  etymologies? 
Johnson.  Why,  Sir,  here  is  a  shelf  with  Junius,  and  Skin- 
ner*, and  others  ;  and  there  is  a  Welch  gentleman  who  has 
published  a  collection  of  Welch  proverbs,  who  will  help  me 
with  the  Welch'.  Adams.  But,  Sir,  how  can  you  do  this 
in  three  years?  JOHNSON.  Sir,  I  have  no  doubt  that  I  can 
do  it  in  three  years.  Adams.  But  the  French  Academy, 
which  consists  of  forty  members,  took  forty  years  to  compile 
their  Dictionary.  JOHNSON.  Sir,  thus  it  is.  This  is  the 
proportion.  Let  me  see ;  forty  times  forty  is  sixteen  hun- 
dred. As  three  to  sixteen  hundred,  so  is  the  proportion  of 
an  Englishman  to  a  Frenchman.'  With  so  much  ease  and 
pleasantry  could  he  talk  of  that  prodigious  labour  which  he 
had  undertaken  to  execute. 

The  publick  has  had,  from  another  pen*,  a  long  detail  of 

'  There  might  be  applied  to  him  what  he  said  of  Pope : — '  Self- 
confidence  is  the  first  requisite  to  great  undertakings.  He,  in- 
deed, who  forms  his  opinion  of  himself  in  solitude  without  know- 
fng  the  powers  of  other  men,  is  very  liable  to  error ;  but  it  was  the 
felicity  of  Pope  to  rate  himself  at  his  real  value.'  Johnson's  Works, 
viii.  237. 

^  '  For  the  Teutonick  etymologies  I  am  commonly  indebted  to  Ju- 
nius and  Skinner  .  .  .  Junius  appears  to  have  excelled  in  extent  of 
learning  and  Skinner  in  rectitude  of  understanding  .  .  .  Skinner  is 
often  ignorant,  but  never  ridiculous:  Junius  is  always  full  of  knowl- 
edge, but  his  variety  distracts  his  judgment,  and  his  learning  is  very 
frequently  disgraced  by  his  absurdities.'  lb.  v.  29.  Francis  Junius 
the  younger  was  born  at  Heidelberg  in  1 589,  and  died  at  Windsor,  at 
the  house  of  his  nephew  Isaac  Vossius,  in  1678.  His  Etytnohgicum 
Angltcanum  was  not  published  till  1743.  Stephen  Skinner,  M.D.,  was 
born  in  1623,  and  died  in  1667.  His  Efymologtcojt  LiJigiia:  AnglicancE 
was  published  in  167 1.     Knight's  Eng.  Cyclo. 

*  Thomas  Richards  published  in  1753  Antiqucr  Lingiice  BritanniccE 
Thesaurus,  to  which  is  prefixed  a  Welsh  Grammar  and  a  collection  of 
British  proverbs. 

*  See  Sir  John  Hawkins's  Life  of  Johnson  [p.  171].     BosWELL. 

what 


2i6  yohnsons  amattuenses.  [a. u.  1748. 

what  had  been  done  in  this  country  by  prior  Lexicographers  ; 
and  no  doubt  Johnson  was  wise  to  avail  himself  of  them,  so 
far  as  they  went :  but  the  learned,  yet  judicious  research  of 
etymology',  the  various,  yet  accurate  display  of  definition, 
and  the  rich  collection  of  authorities,  were  reserved  for  the 
superior  mind  of  our  great  philologist\  For  the  mechanical 
part  he  employed,  as  he  told  me,  six  amanuenses ;  and  let  it 
be  remembered  by  the  natives  of  North-Britain,  to  whom  he 
is  supposed  to  have  been  so  hostile,  that  five  of  them  were 
of  that  country.  There  were  two  Messieurs  Macbean ;  Mr. 
Shiels,  who  we  shall  hereafter  see  partly  wrote  the  Lives 
of  the  Poets  to  which  the  name  of  Gibber  is  affixed';  Mr. 
Stewart,  son  of  Mr.  George  Stewart,  bookseller  at  Edin- 
burgh ;  and  a  Mr.  Maitland.  The  sixth  of  these  humble 
assistants  was  Mr,  Peyton,  who,  I  believe,  taught  French, 
and  published  some  elementary  tracts. 

To  all  these  painful  labourers,  Johnson  shewed  a  never- 
ceasing  kindness,  so  far  as  they  stood  in  need  of  it.  The 
elder  Mr.  Macbean  had  afterwards  the  honour  of  being 
Librarian  to  Archibald,  Duke  of  Argyle,  for  many  years,  but 
was  left  without  a  shilling,  Johnson  wrote  for  him  a  Pref- 
ace to  A  System  of  Ancient  Geography ;  and,  by  the  favour 
of  Lord  Thurlow,  got  him  admitted  a  poor  brother  of  the 
Gharterhouse\     For  Shiels,  who  died  of  a  consumption,  he 


'  '  The  faults  of  the  book  resolve  themselves,  for  the  most  part,  into 
one  great  fault.  Johnson  was  a  wretched  etymologist.'  Macaulay's 
Aft'sc.  Writings,  p.  382.  See  post.  May  13,  1778,  for  mention  of  Home 
Tooke's  criticism  of  Johnson's  etymologies. 

'  '  The  etymology,  so  far  as  it  is  yet  known,  was  easily  found  in  the 
volumes  where  it  is  particularly  and  professedly  delivered  .  ,  .  But  to 
COLLECT  the  WORDS  of  our  language  was  a  task  of  greater  difficulty  : 
the  deficiency  of  dictionaries  was  immediately  apparent ;  and  when 
they  were  exhausted,  what  was  yet  wanting  must  be  sought  by  fortu- 
itous and  unguided  excursions  into  books,  and  gleaned  as  industry 
should  find,  or  chance  should  offer  it,  in  the  boundless  chaos  of  a 
living  speech.'     Johnson's  Works.v.  2,\- 

*  See /c7j/,  under  Apru  10,  1776.     Boswell. 

*  '  Mr.  Macbean,'  said  Johnson  in  1778, '  is  a  man  of  great  learning, 

had 


Aetat.  39.J     The  Upper  room  i?i  Goiigh-sqtiare.  217 

had  much  tenderness  ;  and  it  has  been  thought  that  some 
choice  sentences  in  the  Lives  of  the  Poets  were  suppHed  by 
him'.  Peyton,  when  reduced  to  penury,  had  frequent  aid 
from  the  bounty  of  Johnson,  who  at  last  was  at  the  expense 
of  burying  both  him  and  his  wife\ 

While  the  Dictionary  was  going  forward,  Johnson  lived 
part  of  the  time  in  Holborn,  part  in  Gough-square,  Fleet- 
street  ;  and  he  had  an  upper  room  fitted  up  like  a  count- 
ing-house for  the  purpose,  in  which  he  gave  to  the  copy- 
ists their  several  tasks\  The  words,  partly  taken  from 
other  dictionaries,  and  partly  supplied  by  himself,  having 
been  first  written  down  with  spaces  left  between  them, 
he  delivered  in  writing  their  etymologies,  definitions,  and 


and  for  his  learning  I  respect  him,  and  I  wish  to  serve  him.  He 
knows  many  languages,  and  knows  them  well ;  but  he  knows  nothing 
of  life.  I  advised  him  to  write  a  geographical  dictionary ;  but  I  have 
lost  all  hopes  of  his  ever  doing  anything  properly,  since  I  found  he 
gave  as  much  labour  to  Capua  as  to  Rome.'  Mine.  D'Arblays  Diary, 
i.  114.     Stt  post,  beginning  of  1773.  and  Oct.  24,  1780. 

*  Boswell  is  speaking  of  the  book  published  under  the  name  of 
Cihber  mentioned  above,  but  '  entirely  compiled,'  according  to  John- 
son, by  Shiels.     Se.e.  post,  April  10,  1776. 

"  See  Piozzi  Letters,  i.  312,  and/Ji'5/,  May  21,  1775,  note. 

'  ■  We  ourselves,  not  without  labour  and  risk,  lately  discovered 
Gough  Square  .  .  .  and  on  the  second  day  of  search  the  very  House 
there,  wherein  the  English  Dictionary  was  composed.  It  is  the  first 
or  corner  house  on  the  right  hand,  as  you  enter  through  the  arched 
way  from  the  North-west  ...  It  is  a  stout,  old-fashioned,  oak-balus- 
traded  house :  "  I  have  spent  many  a  pound  and  penny  on  it  since 
then,"  said  the  worthy  Landlord ;  "  here,  you  see,  this  bedroom  was 
the  Doctor's  study;  that  was  the  garden"  (a  plot  of  delved  ground 
somewhat  larger  than  a  bed-quilt)  "  where  he  walked  for  exercise ; 
these  three  garret  bedrooms"  (where  his  three  [six]  copyists  sat  and 
wrote)  "were  the  place  he  kept  his — pupils  in"!  Tempus  edax 
rerttm !  Yet  ferax  also :  for  our  friend  now  added,  with  a  wistful 
look,  which  strove  to  seem  merely  historical :  "  I  let  it  all  in  lodg- 
ings, to  respectable  gentlemen ;  by  the  quarter  or  the  month ;  it's 
all  one  to  me." —  "  To  me  also,"  whispered  the  ghost  of  Samuel,  as 
we  went  pensively  our  ways.'  Carlyle's  Miscellanies,  edit,  of  1872, 
iv.  112. 

various 


2l8       Authors  quoted  in    The  Dictionary,  [a. d.  1748. 

various  significations'.  The  authorities  were  copied  froni 
the  books  themselves,  in  which  he  had  marked  the  pas- 
sages with  a  black-lead  pencil,  the  traces  of  which  could 
easily  be  effaced".  I  have  seen  several  of  them,  in  which 
that  trouble  had  not  been  taken  ;  so  that  they  were  just 
as  when  used  by  the  copyists\  It  is  remarkable,  that  he 
was  so  attentive  in  the  choice  of  the  passages  in  which 
words  were  authorised,  that  one  may  read  page  after  page 
of  his  Dictionary  with  improvement  and  pleasure ;  and  it 
should  not  pass  unobserved,  that  he  has  quoted  no  authour 
whose  writings  had  a  tendency  to  hurt  sound  religion  and 
morality'. 

'  Boswell's  account  of  the  manner  in  which  Johnson  compiled  his 
Dictionary  is  confused  and  erroneous.  He  began  his  task  (as  he 
himself  expressly  described  to  me),  by  devoting  his  first  care  to  a 
diligent  perusal  of  all  such  English  writers  as  were  most  correct 
in  their  language,  and  under  every  sentence  which  he  meant  to 
quote  he  drew  a  line,  and  noted  in  the  margin  the  first  letter  of 
the  word  under  which  it  was  to  occur.  He  then  delivered  these 
books  to  his  clerks,  who  transcribed  each  sentence  on  a  separate 
slip  of  paper,  and  arranged  the  same  under  the  word  referred  to. 
By  these  means  he  collected  the  several  words  and  their  different 
significations;  and  when  the  whole  arrangement  was  alphabetically 
formed,  he  gave  the  definitions  of  their  meanings,  and  collected  their 
etymologies  from  Skinner,  Junius,  and  other  writers  on  the  subject. 
Percy. 

*  '  The  books  he  used  for  this  purpose  were  what  he  had  in  his  own 
collection,  a  copious  but  a  miserably  ragged  one,  and  all  such  as  he 
could  borrow ;  which  latter,  if  ever  they  came  back  to  those  that  lent 
them,  were  so  defaced  as  to  be  scarce  worth  owning,  and  yet  some  of 
his  friends  were  glad  to  receive  and  entertain  them  as  curiosities.' 
Hawkins,  p.  175. 

"  In  the  copy  that  he  thus  marked  of  Sir  Matthew  Hale's  Primitive 
Origination  of  Mankind,  opposite  the  passage  where  it  is  stated,  that 
'  Averroes  says  that  if  the  world  were  not  eternal  ...  it  could  never 
have  been  at  all,  because  an  eternal  duration  must  necessarily  have 
anteceded  the  first  production  of  the  world,' he  has  written: — 'This 
argument  will  hold  good  equally  against  the  writing  that  I  now 
write.' 

*  Boswell  must  mean  '  whose  writings  taken  as  a  luhole  had  a  ten- 
dency,'&c,     Johnson  quotes  Dryden,  and  of  Dryden  he  says: — 'Of 

The 


Aetat.  39.]  '  Tugging  at  his  oar'  219 

The  necessary  expense  of  preparing  a  work  of  such  magni. 
tude  for  the  press,  must  have  been  a  considerable  deduction 
from  the  price  stipulated  to  be  paid  for  the  copy-right.  I 
understand  that  nothing  was  allowed  by  the  booksellers  on 
that  account ;  and  I  remember  his  telling  me,  that  a  large 
portion  of  it  having  by  mistake  been  written  upon  both 
sides  of  the  paper,  so  as  to  be  inconvenient  for  the  com- 
positor, it  cost  him  twenty  pounds  to  have  it  transcribed 
upon  one  side  only. 

He  is  now  to  be  considered  as  '  tugging  at  his  oar','  as 
engaged  in  a  steady  continued  course  of  occupation,  sufficient 
to  employ  all  his  time  for  some  years ;  and  which  was  the 

the  mind  that  can  trade  in  corruption,  and  can  deliberately  pollute 
itself  with  ideal  wickedness  for  the  sake  of  spreading  the  contagion 
in  society,  I  wish  not  to  conceal  or  excuse  the  depravity.  Such  deg- 
radation of  the  dignity  of  genius,  such  abuse  of  superlative  abilities, 
cannot  be  contemplated  but  with  grief  and  indignation.  What  con- 
solation can  be  had  Dryden  has  afforded  by  living  to  repent,  and  to 
testify  his  repentance."  Johnson's  Works,  vii.  293.  He  quotes  Con- 
greve,  and  of  Congreve  he  says :  '  It  is  acknowledged,  with  universal 
conviction,  that  the  perusal  of  his  works  will  make  no  man  better; 
and  that  their  ultimate  effect  is  to  represent  pleasure  in  alliance  with 
vice,  and  to  relax  those  obligations  by  which  life  ought  to  be  regu- 
lated.' lb.  viii.  28.  He  would  not  quote  Dr.  Clarke,  much  as  he  ad- 
mired him,  because  he  was  not  sound  upon  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 
Post,  Dec.  1784,  note. 

'  In  the  Plan  to  the  Dictionary,  \ir\\.\.^x\  in  1747,  he  describes  his  task 
as  one  that  '  may  be  successfully  performed  without  any  higher  qual- 
ity than  that  of  bearing  burdens  with  dull  patience,  and  beating  the 
track  of  the  alphabet  with  sluggish  resolution.'  Works,  \.  i.  In  1751, 
in  the  Rambler,  No.  141,  he  thus  pleasantly  touches  on  his  work  :  '  The 
task  of  every  other  slave  [except  the  "  wit "]  has  an  end.  The  rower 
in  time  reaches  the  port ;  the  lexicographer  at  last  finds  the  conclu- 
sion of  his  alphabet.'  On  April  15,  1755,  he  writes  to  his  friend  Hec- 
tor : — '  I  wish,  come  of  wishes  what  will,  that  my  work  may  please  you, 
as  much  as  it  now  and  then  pleased  me,  for  I  did  not  find  dictionary 
making  so  very  unpleasant  as  it  may  be  thought.'  Notes  and  Queries, 
6th  S.,  Ill,  301.  He  told  Dr.  Blacklock  that  '  it  was  easier  to  him  to 
write  poetry  than  to  compose  his  Dictionary.  His  mind  was  less  on 
the  stretch  in  doing  the  one  than  the  other.'  Boswell's  Hebrides, 
Aug.  17,  1773. 

best 


2  20  The  Ivy  Lane  Club.  [a. d.  1748. 


best  preventive  of  that  constitutional  melancholy  which  was 
ever  lurking  about  him,  ready  to  trouble  his  quiet.  But  his 
enlarged  and  lively  mind  could  not  be  satisfied  without 
more  diversity  of  employment,  and  the  pleasure  of  animated 
relaxation'.  He  therefore  not  only  exerted  his  talents  in 
occasional  composition  very  different  from  Lexicography, 
but  formed  a  club  in  Ivy-lane,  Paternoster-row,  with  a  view 
to  enjoy  literary  discussion,  and  amuse  his  evening  hours. 
The  members  associated  with  him  in  this  little  society 
were  his  beloved  friend  Dr.  Richard  Bathurst",  Mr.  Hawkes- 
worth',  afterwards   well    known   by  his    writings,  Mr.  John 

'  The  well-known  picture  of  the  company  at  Tunbridgc  Wells  in 
Aug.  1748,  with  the  references  in  Richardson's  own  writing,  is  given 
as  a  frontispiece  to  vol.  iii.  of  Richardson's  Correspondence.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  figure  marked  by  Richardson  as  Dr.  John- 
son is  not  Samuel  Johnson,  who  did  not  receive  a  doctor's  degree  till 
more  than  four  years  after  Richardson's  death. 

*  'Johnson  hardly  ever  spoke  of  Bathurst  without  tears  in  his  eyes.' 
Murphy's  yo/mson,  p.  56.  Mrs.  Piozzi,  after  recording  an  anecdote  that 
he  had  related  to  her  of  his  childhood,  continues  : — '  '•  I  cannot  imag- 
ine," said  he.  "what  makes  me  talk  of  myself  to  you  so,  for  I  really 
never  mentioned  this  foolish  story  to  anybody  except  Dr.  Taylor,  not 
even  to  my  dear,  dear  Bathurst,  whom  I  loved  better  than  ever  I  loved 
any  human  creature  ;  but  poor  Bathurst  is  dead  I"  Here  a  long  pause 
and  a  few  tears  ensued.'  Piozzi's  Anee.  [■>.  18.  Another  day  he  said 
to  her : — '  Dear  Bathurst  was  a  man  to  my  very  hearts  content :  he 
hated  a  fool,  and  he  hated  a  rogue,  and  he  hated  a  Whig;  he  was  a 
very  good  hater.'  lb.  p.  83.  In  his  Meditations  on  Kasfer-Day,  1764, 
he  records  : — '  After  sermon  I  recommended  Tetty  in  a  prayer  by  her- 
self;'  and  my  father,  mother,  brother,  and  Bathurst  in  another.'  Pr. 
and  Med.  p.  54.  See  also  post,  under  March  18,  1752,  and  1780  in  Mr. 
Langton's  Collection. 

'  Of  Hawkesworth  Johnson  thus  wrote ;  '  An  account  of  Dr.  Swift 
has  been  already  collected,  with  great  diligence  and  acutencss,  by  Dr. 
Hawkesworth,  according  to  a  scheme  which  I  laid  before  him  in  the 
intimacy  of  our  friendship.  I  cannot  therefore  be  expected  to  say 
much  of  a  life  concerning  which  I  had  long  since  communicated  my 
thoughts  to  a  man  capable  of  dignifying  his  narrations  with  so  much 
elegance  of  language  and  force  of  sentiment.'  Johnson's  Works, 
viii.  192.  Hawkesworth  was  an  imitator  of  Johnson's  style;  post,  un- 
der Jan.  I,  1753. 

Hawkins, 


Aetat. 39.]     Mr.  yohn  Hawkifis,  an  attorjtey.  221 

Hawkins,  an  attorney',  and  a  few  others  of  different  pro- 
fessiQns\ 

'  He  was  afterwards  for  several  years  Chairman  of  the  Middlesex 
Justices,  and  upon  occasion  of  presenting  an  address  to  the  King,  ac- 
cepted the  usual  offer  of  Knighthood.  He  is  authour  of  '  A  His- 
tory of  Musick.'  in  five  volumes  in  quarto.  By  assiduous  attendance 
upon  Johnson  in  his  last  illness,  he  obtained  the  office  of  one  of  his 
executors ;  in  consequence  of  which,  the  booksellers  of  London  em- 
ployed him  to  publish  an  edition  of  Dr.  Johnson's  works,  and  to  write 
his  Life.  Boswell.  This  description  of  Hawkins,  as  '  Mr.  John 
Hawkins,  an  attorney,'  is  a  reply  to  his  description  of  Bos<vell  as  '  Mr. 
James  Boswell,  a  native  of  Scotland.'  Hawkins's  Johnson,  p.  472. 
According  to  Miss  Hawkins,  '  Boswell  complained  to  her  father  of  the 
manner  in  which  he  was  described.  Where  was  the  offence .-'  It  was 
one  of  those  which  a  complainant  hardly  dares  to  embody  in  words ; 
he  would  only  repeat,  "  Well,  but  Mr.  James  Boswell,  surely,  surely, 
Mr.  James  Bos^uell."  '  Miss  Hawkins's  Memoirs,  i.  235.  Boswell  in 
thus  styling  Hawkins  remembered  no  doubt  Johnson  s  sarcasm  against 
attorneys.  See  post,  1770.  in  Dr.  Maxwell's  Collectanea.  Hawkins's 
edition  of  Johnsons  Works  was  published  in  1787-9,  in  13  vols.,  8vo., 
the  last  two  vols,  being  edited  by  Stockdale.  In  vol.  xi.  is  a  collection 
of  Johnson's  sayings,  under  the  name  of  Apothegms,  many  of  which  I 
quote  in  my  notes. 

'  Boswell,  it  is  clear,  has  taken  his  account  of  the  club  from  Haw- 
kins, who  writes  : — '  Johnson  had,  in  the  winter  of  1749,  formed  a  club 
that  met  weekly  at  the  King's  Head,  a  famous  beef-steak  house  in 
\\y  Lane,  near  St.  Paul's,  every  Tuesday  evening.  Thither  he  con- 
stantly resorted  with  a  disposition  to  please  and  be  pleased.  Our 
conversations  seldom  began  till  after  a  supper  so  very  solid  and  sub- 
stantial as  led  us  to  think  that  with  him  it  was  a  dinner.  By  the  help 
of  this  refection,  and  no  other  incentive  to  hilarity  than  lemonade, 
Johnson  was  in  a  short  time  after  our  assembling  transformed  into  a 
new  creature ;  his  habitual  melancholy  and  lassitude  of  spirit  gave 
way;  his  countenance  brightened.'  Hawkins's  Johnson,  pp.  219,  250. 
Other  parts  of  Hawkins's  account  do  not  agree  with  passages  in  John- 
son's letters  to  Mrs.  Thrale  written  in  1783-4.  '  I  dined  about  a  fort- 
night ago  with  three  old  friends  [Hawkins,  Ryland,  and  Payne] ;  we 
had  not  met  together  for  thirty  years.  In  the  thirty  years  two  of  our 
set  have  died.'  Piozzi  Letters,  ii.  339.  '  We  used  to  meet  weekly  about 
the  year  fifty.'  lb.  p.  361.  'The  people  whom  I  mentioned  in  my 
letter  are  the  remnant  of  a  little  club  that  used  to  meet  in  Ivy  Lane 
about  three  and  thirty  years  ago,  out  of  which  we  have  lost  Hawkes- 
worth  and  Dyer,  the  rest  are  yet  on  this  side  the  grave.'     lb.  p.  363. 

In 


222  The  Vision  of  Theodore.         [a.d.  1749. 

In  the  Gentleman  s  Magazijie  for  May  of  this  year  he 
wrote  a  '  Life  of  Roscommon,'*  with  Notes,  which  he  after- 
wards much  improved,  indented  the  notes  into  text,  and  in- 
serted it  amongst  his  Lives  of  the  English  Poets. 

Mr.  Dodsley  this  year  brought  out  his  Preceptor,  one  of 
the  most  vahiable  books  for  the  improvement  of  young 
minds  that  has  appeared  in  an\'  language ;  and  to  this 
meritorious  work  Jolmson  furnished  '  The  IVeface,'-  con- 
taining a  general  sketch  of  the  book,  w  ith  a  short  and  per- 
spicuous recommendation  of  each  article ;  as  also,  '  The 
Vision  of  Theodore  the  Hermit,  found  in  his  Cell,'-  a  most 
beautiful  allegory  of  human  life,  under  the  figure  of  ascend- 
ing the  mountain  of  Existence.  The  Bishop  of  Dromore 
heard  Dr.  Johnson  say,  that  he  thought  this  was  the  best 
thing  he  ever  wrote'. 

1749:  ^TAT.  40.]  —  In  January  1749,  he  published  The 
Vanity  of  Human  Wishes,  being  the  Tentli  Satire  of  Juve- 
nal iynitated''.     He,  I    believe,  composed   it   the  preceding 

Hawkins  says  the  club  broke  up  about  1756  {Life,  p.  361).  Johnson 
in  the  first  of  the  passages  says  they  had  not  met  at  all  for  thirty  years 
— that  is  to  say,  not  since  1753 ;  while  in  the  last  two  passages  he  im- 
plies that  their  weekly  meetings  came  to  an  end  about  1751.  I  cannot 
understand  moreover  how,  if  Bathurst,  '  his  beloved  friend,'  belonged 
to  the  club,  Johnson  should  have  forgotten  it.  Bathurst  died  in  the 
expedition  to  the  Havannah  about  1762.  Two  others  of  those  given 
in  Hawkins's  list  were  certainly  dead  by  1783,  M'Ghie,  who  died 
while  the  club  existed  {lb.  p.  361),  and  Dr.  Salter.  A  writer  in  the 
Builder  (Dec.  1884)  says,  'The  King's  Head  was  burnt  down  twenty- 
five  years  ago,  but  the  cellarage  remains  beneath  No.  4,  Alldis's  din- 
ing-rooms, on  the  eastern  side." 

»  Tom  Tyers  said  that  Johnson  '  in  one  night  composed,  after  finish- 
ing an  evening  in  Holborn,  his  Hermit  of  Teneriffe.'  Gent.  Mai^.  for 
1784,  p.  901.  The  high  value  that  he  set  on  this  piece  may  be  ac- 
counted for  in  his  own  words.  '  Many  causes  may  vitiate  a  writer's 
judgment  of  his  own  works.  .  .  .  What  has  been  produced  without 
toilsome  efforts  is  considered  with  delight,  as  a  proof  of  vigorous 
faculties  and  fertile  invention.'  Johnson's  Works,  vii.  1 10.  He  had 
said  much  the  same  thirty  years  earlier  in  The  Rambler  (No.  21). 

*  '  On  January  9  was  published,  long  wished,  another  satire  from 
Juvenal,  by  the  author  of  London.'     Gent.  Mag.  xviii.  598,  y. 

year. 


Aetat.  40.]  The  paymeni  of  poets.  223 

year'.  Mrs.  Johnson,  for  the  sake  of  country  air,  had  lodgings 
at  Hampstead,  to  which  lie  resorted  occasionally,  and  there 
the  greatest  part,  if  not  the  whole,  of  this  Imitation  was  writ- 
ten'. The  fervid  rapidity  with  which  it  was  produced,  is 
scarcely  credible.  I  have  heard  him  say,  that  he  composed 
seventy  lines  of  it  in  one  day,  without  putting  one  of  them 
upon  paper  till  they  were  finished\  I  remember  when  I 
once  regretted  to  him  that  he  had  not  given  us  more  of 
Juvenal's  Satires,  he  said  he  probably  should  give  more,  for 
he  had  them  all  in  his  head  ;  by  which  I  understood  that  he 
had  the  originals  and  correspondent  allusions  floating  in  his 
mind,  which  he  could,  when  he  pleased,  embody  and  render 
permanent  without  much  labour.  Some  of  them,  however, 
he  observed  were  too  gross  for  imitation. 

The  profits  of  a  single  poem,  however  excellent,  appear  to 
have  been  very  small  in  the  last  reign,  compared  with  what 
a  publication  of  the  same  size  has  since  been  known  to  yield. 
I  have  mentioned,  upon  Johnson's  own  authority,  that  for 
his  London  he  had  only  ten  guineas  ;  and  now,  after  his  fame 
was  established,  he  got  for  his  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes  but 

'  Sir  John  Hawkins,  with  solemn  inaccuracy,  represents  this  poem 
as  a  consequence  of  the  indifferent  reception  of  his  tragedy.  But  the 
fact  is,  that  the  poem  was  published  on  the  9th  of  Januar}\  and  the 
tragedy  was  not  acted  till  the  6th  of  the  February  following.  Bos- 
well.  Hawkins  perhaps  implies  what  Boswell  says  that  he  repre- 
sents ;  but  if  so,  he  implies  it  by  denying  it.  Hawkins's  Jo/inson,  p. 
201. 

'*  '  I  wrote,'  he  said,  'the  first  seventy  lines  in  T/te  Vanity  of  Hioiian 
Wishes  in  the  course  of  one  morning  in  that  small  house  beyond  the 
church  at  Hampstead.'      Works  (1787),  xi.  212. 

*  S^^  post  under  Feb.  15,  1766.  That  Johnson  did  not  think  that  in 
hasty  composition  there  is  any  great  merit,  is  shewn  by  T/w  Rambler, 
No.  169,  entitled  Labour  necessary  to  excellence.  There  he  describes 
'pride  and  indigence  as  the  two  great  hasteners  of  modern  poems.' 
He  continues : — '  that  no  other  method  of  attaining  lasting  praise 
[than  tnulta  dies  et  fnulta  litura]  has  been  yet  discovered  may  be  con- 
jectured from  the  blotted  manuscripts  of  Milton  now  remaining,  and 
from  the  tardy  emission  of  Pope's  compositions.'  He  made  many 
corrections  for  the  later  editions  of  his  poem. 

five 


224  The  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes,    [a.d.  1749. 

five  guineas  more,  as  is  proved  by  an  authentick  document 
in  my  possession'. 

It  will  be  observed,  that  he  reserves  to  liimself  the  right 
of  printing  one  edition  of  this  satire,  which  was  his  practice 
upon  occasion  of  the  sale  of  all  his  writings ;  it  being  his 
fixed  intention  to  publish  at  some  period,  for  his  own  profit, 
a  complete  collection  of  his  works". 

Mis  Vanity  of  Human  WisJics  has  less  of  common  life,  but 
more  of  a  philosophick  dignity  than  his  Londoii.  More 
readers,  therefore,  will  be  delighted  with  the  pointed  spirit 
of  London,  than  with  the  profound  reflection  of  TJic  Vanity 
of  Human   Wishes.^     Garrick,  for  instance,  observed  in  his 


'  '  Nov.  25,  1748.  I  received  of  Mr.  Dodsley  fifteen  guineas,  for  which 
I  assign  to  him  the  right  of  copy  of  an  imitation  of  the  Tenth  Satire 
of  /uvcnat,  written  by  me ;  reserving  to  myself  the  right  of  printing 
one  edition.  Sam.  Johnson.' 

'  London,  29  June,  1786.  A  true  copy,  from  the  original  in  Dr.  John- 
son's handwriting.     Ja'.  Dodslev.'     Boswkll. 

London  was  sold  at  a  shilling  a  copy.  Johnson  was  paid  at  the  rate 
of  about  9i(/.  a  line  for  this  poem  ;  for  TIw  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes 
at  the  rate  of  about  lod.  a  line.  Dryden  by  his  engagement  with 
Jacob  Tonson  (see  Johnson's  Works,  vii.  298)  undertook  to  furnish 
10,000  verses  at  a  little  over  6d.  a  verse.  Goldsmith  was  paid  for  The 
Traveller  ^21,  or  about  \i\d.  a  line. 

-  He  never  published  it.     See  post  under  Dec.  9,  1784. 

•''  'Jan.  9,  1821.  Read  Johnson's  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes, — all  the 
e.xamples  and  mode  ot  giving  them  sublime,  as  well  as  the  latter  part, 
with  the  exception  of  an  occasional  couplet.  I  do  not  so  much  ad- 
mire the  opening.  The  first  line,  "  Let  observation,"  etc.,  is  certainly 
heavy  and  useless.  But  'tis  a  grand  poem — and  so  true.' — true  as  the 
Tenth  of  Juvenal  himself.  The  lapse  of  ages  changes  all  things — time 
-  -language — the  earth — the  bounds  of  the  sea — the  stars  of  the  sky, 
and  everything  "  about,  around,  and  underneath  "  man,  except  man 
himself.  The  infinite  variety  of  lives  conduct  but  to  death,  and  the 
infinity  of  wishes  lead  but  to  disappointment.'  Byron,  vol.  v.  p.  66. 
Wright.  Sir  Walter  Scott  said  '  that  he  had  more  pleasure  in  read- 
ing Z^«^(9«,  and  The  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes  than  any  other  poetical 
composition  he  could  mention.'  Lockhart's  Scott,  iii.  269.  Mr.  Lock- 
hart  adds  that  '  the  last  line  of  MS.  that  Scott  sent  to  the  press  was  a 
quotation  from  The  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes.'     Of  the  first  lines 

sprightly 


Aetat.40.]      ThE    VaNITY  OF  HuMAN    W J  SUES.  225 

sprightly  manner,  with  more  vivacity  than  regard  to  just 
discrimination,  as  is  usual  with  wits,  '  When  Johnson  Hved 
much  with  the  Herveys,  and  saw  a  good  deal  of  what  was 
passing  in  life,  he  wrote  his  London,  which  is  lively  and  easy. 
When  he  became  more  retired,  he  gave  us  his  Vanity  of 
Hunian  Wishes,  which  is  as  hard  as  Greek.  Had  he  gone 
on  to  imitate  another  satire,  it  would  have  been  as  hard  as 
Hebrew'.' 

But  The  Vanity  of  Hicnian  Wishes  is,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  best  judges,  as  high  an  effort  of  ethick  poetry'  as  any 
language  can  shew.  The  instances  of  variety  of  disappoint- 
ment are  chosen  so  judiciously  and  painted  so  strongly,  that, 
the  moment  they  are  read,  they  bring  conviction  to  every 
thinking  mind.  That  of  the  scholar  must  have  depressed 
the  too  sanguine  expectations  of  many  an  ambitious  student'. 

'  Let  observation  with  extensive  view 
Survey  mankind  from  China  to  Peru,' 
De  Ouincey  quotes  the  criticism  of  some  writer,  who  '  contends  with 
some  reason  that  this  is  saying  in  effect : — "  Let  observation  with  ex- 
tensive observation  obser\'e  manicind  extensively." '     De  Ouincey 's 
IVorks,  X.  72. 

'  From  Mr.  Langton.     BoswELL. 

*  In  this   poem   one  of  the   instances   mentioned   of   unfortunate 
learned  men  is  Lydmt : 

'  Hear  Lydiat's  life,  and  Galileo's  end.' 
The  history  of  Lydiat  being  little  known,  the  following  account  of  him 
may  be  acceptable  to  many  of  my  readers.  It  appeared  as  a  note  in 
the  Supplement  to  the  Ge7it.  Mag.  for  1748,  in  which  some  passages 
extracted  from  Johnson's  poem  were  inserted,  and  it  should  have  been 
added  in  the  subsequent  editions. — A  very  learned  divine  and  mathe- 
matician, fellow  of  New  College,  Oxon,  and  Rector  of  Okerton,  near 
Banbur)^  He  wrote,  among  many  others,  a  Latin  treatise  De  Natura 
cceli,  etc.,  in  which  he  attacked  the  sentiments  of  Scaliger  and  Aristotle, 
not  bearing  to  hear  it  urged,  t/iaf  some  thmgs  are  true  m  philosopliy 
and  false  in  dhn'niiy.  He  made  above  600  Sermons  on  the  harmony 
of  the  Evangelists.  Being  unsuccessful  in  publishing  his  works,  he 
lay  in  the  pri.son  of  Bocardo  at  Oxford,  and  in  the  King's  Bench,  till 
Bishop  Usher.  Dr.  Laud,  Sir  William  Boswell,  and  Dr.  Pink,  released 
him  by  paying  his  debts.  He  petitioned  King  Charles  I.  to  be  sent 
into  Eihiopia,  etc.,  to  procure  MSS.  Having  spoken  in  favour  of 
I.— 15  That 


2  26  The  conclusion  of  yo/msojis  poem.    [a.d.  1749. 

That  of  the  warrior,  Charles  of  Sweden,  is,  I  think,  as  high- 
ly finished  a  picture  as  can  possibly  be  conceived. 

Were  all  the  other  excellencies  of  this  poem  annihilated, 
it  must  ever  have  our  grateful  reverence  from  its  noble  con- 
clusion ;  in  which  we  are  consoled  with  the  assurance  that 
happiness  may  be  attained,  if  we  '  apply  our  hearts' '  to 
piety  : 

'  Where  then  shall  hope  and  fear  their  objects  find  ? 
Shall  dull  suspense  corrupt  the  stagnant  mind  ? 
Must  helpless  man,  in  ignorance  sedate. 
Roll  darkling  down  the  torrent  of  his  fate  ? 
Shall  no  dislike  alarm,  no  wishes  rise, 
No  cries  attempt  the  mercy  of  the  skies  ? 
Enthusiast",  cease ;  petitions  yet  remain, 
Which  Heav'n  may  hear,  nor  deem  Religion  vain. 
Still  raise  for  good  the  supplicating  voice. 
But  leave  to  Heaven  the  measure  and  the  choice. 
Safe  in  His  hand,  whose  eye  discerns  afar 
The  secret  ambush  of  a  specious  pray'r ; 
Implore  His  aid,  in  His  decisions  rest, 
Secure  whate'er  He  gives  He  gives  the  best. 
Yet  when  the  sense  of  sacred  presence  fires, 
And  strong  devotion  to  the  skies  aspires, 
Pour  forth  thy  fervours  for  a  healthful  mind, 
Obedient  passions,  and  a  will  resign'd  ; 
For  love,  which  scarce  collective  man  can  fill, 
For  patience,  sovereign  o'er  transmuted  ill ; 
For  faith,  which  panting  for  a  happier  seat, 
Counts  death  kind  Nature's  signal  for  retreat. 
These  goods  for  man  the  laws  of  Heaven  ordain, 
These  goods  He  grants,  who  grants  the  power  to  gain  ; 
With  these  celestial  wisdom  calms  the  mind. 
And  makes  the  happiness  she  does  not  find.' 


Monarchy  and  bishops,  he  was  plundered  by  the  parliament  forces, 
and  twice  carried  away  prisoner  from  his  rectory ;  and  afterwards  had 
not  a  shirt  to  shift  him  in  three  months,  without  he  borrowed  't,  and 
died  very  poor  in  1646.     BOSWELL, 

'  Psalm  xc.  12. 

*  In  the  original  Inquirtr, 

Garrick 


Actat. 40.J  Irene  on  the  stage.  227 


Garrick  being  now  vested  with  theatrical  power  by  being 
manager  of  Drury-lane  theatre,  he  kindly  and  generously 
made  use  of  it  to  bring  out  Johnson's  tragedy,  which  had 
been  long  kept  back  for  want  of  encouragement.  But  in 
this  benevolent  purpose  he  met  with  no  small  difficulty  from 
the  temper  of  Johnson,  which  could  not  brook  that  a  drama 
which  he  had  formed  with  much  study,  and  had  been  obliged 
to  keep  more  than  the  nine  years  of  Horace',  should  be  re- 
vised and  altered  at  the  pleasure  of  an  actor*.  Yet  Garrick 
knew  well,  that  without  some  alterations  it  would  not  be  fit 
for  the  stage.  A  violent  dispute  having  ensued  between 
them,  Garrick  applied  to  the  Reverend  Dr.  Taylor  to  inter- 
pose. Johnson  was  at  first  very  obstinate.  'Sir,  (said  he) 
the  fellow  wants  me  to  make  Mahomet  run  mad,  that  he 
may  have  an  opportunity  of  tossing  his  hands  and  kicking 
his  heels'.'  He  was,  however,  at  last,  with  difficulty,  prevailed 
on  to  comply  with  Garrick's  wishes,  so  as  to  allow  of  some 
changes;  but  still  there  were  not  enough. 

Dr.  Adams  was  present  the  first  night  of  the  representation 
of  Irene,  and  gave  me  the  following  account:  'Before  the 
curtain  drew  up,  there  were  catcalls  whistling,  which  alarmed 
Johnson's  friends.  The  Prologue,  which  was  written  by  him- 
self in  a  manly  strain,  soothed  the  audience',  and  the  play 


•  '  .  .  .  nonumque  prematur  in  annum.'     Horace,  Ars  Poet.  1.  388. 

•  'Of  all  authors,'  wrote  Johnson, '  those  are  the  most  wretched  who 
exhibit  their  productions  on  the  theatre,  and  who  are  to  propitiate 
first  the  manager  and  then  the  public.  Many  an  humble  visitant  have 
I  followed  to  the  doors  of  these  lords'  of  the  drama,  seen  him  touch 
the  knocker  with  a  shaking  hand,  and  after  long  deliberation  advent- 
ure to  solicit  entrance  by  a  single  knock.'      Works,  v.  360. 

^  Mahomet  was,  in  fact,  played  by  Mr.  Barry,  and  Demetrius  by  Mr. 
Garrick :  but  probably  at  this  time  the  parts  were  not  yet  cast.     Bos- 

WELL. 

•  The  expression  used  by  Dr.  Adams  was  'soothed.'  I  should 
rather  think  the  audience  was  awed  by  the  ejftraordinary  spirit  and 
dignity  of  the  following  lines  : 

'Be  this  at  least  his  praise,  be  this  his  pride. 
To  force  applause  no  modem  arts  are  tried : 

went 


2  28  The  Epilogue  to  Irene.  [a. d.  1749, 

went  off  tolerably,  till  it  came  to  the  conclusion,  when  Mrs. 
Pritchard',  the  heroine  of  the  piece,  was  to  be  strangled  upon 
the  stage, and  was  to  speak  two  lines  with  the  bow-string 
round  her  neck.  The  audience  cried  out  ''Murder!  Mur- 
der"^!'' She  several  times  attempted  to  speak ;  but  in  vain. 
At  last  she  was  obliged  to  go  off  the  stage  alive.'  This  pas- 
sage was  afterwards  struck  out,  and  she  was  carried  off  to 
be  put  to  death  behind  the  scenes,  as  the  play  now  has  it^ 
The  Epilogue,  as  Johnson  informed  me,  was  written  by  Sir 
William  Yonge*.     I  know  not  how  his  play  came  to  be  thus 

Should  partial  catcalls  all  his  hopes  confound. 
He  bids  no  trumpet  quell  the  fatal  sound ; 
Should  welcome  sleep  relieve  the  weary  wit, 
He  rolls  no  thunders  o'er  the  drowsy  pit ; 
No  snares  to  captivate  the  judgement  spreads, 
Nor  bribes  your  eyes  to  prejudice  your  heads. 
Unmov'd,  though  witlings  sneer  and  rivals  rail, 
Studious  to  please,  yet  not  asham'd  to  fail, 
He  scorns  the  meek  address,  the  suppliant  strain, 
With  merit  needless,  and  without  it  vain  ; 
In  Reason,  Nature,  Truth,  he  dares  to  trust ; 
Ye  fops  be  silent,  and  ye  wits  be  just !'  BoswELL. 

'  Johnson  said  of  Mrs.  Pritchard's  playing  in  general  that  '  it  was 
quite  mechanical;'  post,  April  7,  1775.     See  also  post  under  Sept.  30, 

1783. 

'  '  The  strangling  of  Irene  in  the  view  of  the  audience  was  suggested 
by  Mr.  Garrick.'  Davies's  Garruk,  i.  128.  Drydeii  in  his  Essay  of 
Dramatick  Poesie  (edit.  1701,  i.  13),  says :— '  I  have  observed  that  in 
all  our  tragedies  the  audience  cannot  forbear  laughing  when  the  actors 
are  to  die;  'tis  the  most  comick  part  of  the  whole  play.'  'Suppose 
your  piece  admitted,  acted  ;  one  single  ill-natured  jest  from  the  pit  is 
sufficient  to  cancel  all  your  labours.'  Goldsmith's  Present  State  of 
Polite  Learm'ng,  chap.  x. 

'  In  her  last  speech  two  of  the  seven  lines  are  very  bad  : — 
'  Guilt  and  despair,  pale  spectres !  grin  around  me, 
And  stun  me  with  the  yellings  of  damnation  !'     Act.  v.  sc.  9. 

*  Murphy  referring  to  Boswell's  statement  says : — '  The  Epilogue, 
we  are  told  in  a  late  publication,  was  written  by  Sir  William  Young, 
This  is  a  new  discovery,  but  by  no  means  probable.  When  the  ap- 
pendages to  a  Dramatic  Performance  are  not  assigned  to  a  friend,  or 
an  unknown  hand,  or  a  person  of  fashion,  they  are  always  supposed  to 

graced 


Aetat.  40.]  Cold  reception  of  Irene.  229 


graced  by  the  pen  of  a  person  then  so  eminent  in  the  politi- 
cal world. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  support  of  such  performers  as  Gar- 
rick,  Barry,  Mrs.  Gibber,  Mrs.  Pritchard,  and  every  advantage 
of  dress  and  decoration,  the  tragedy  of  Irene  did  not  please 
the  publick'.  Mr.  Garrick's  zeal  carried  it  through  for  nine 
nights',  so  that  the  authour  had  his  three  nights'  profits;  and 
from  a  receipt  signed  by  him,  now  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  James 

be  written  by  the  author  of  the  Play.'  Murphy's  Johnson,  p.  154.  He 
overlooks  altogether  the  statement  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  (xix.  85)  that  the 
Epilogue  is  '  by  another  hand.'  Mr.  Croker  points  out  tliat  the  words 
'as  Johnson  informed  me'  first  appear  in  the  second  edition.  The 
wonder  is  that  Johnson  accepted  this  Epilogue,  which  is  a  little  coarse 
and  a  little  profane.  Yonge  was  Secretary  at  War  in  Walpole's  minis- 
try. Walpole  said  of  him  '  that  nothing  but  Yonge's  character  could 
keep  down  his  parts,  and  nothing  but  his  parts  support  his  character.' 
Horace  Walpole's  Letters,  i.  98,  note. 

'  I  know  not  what  Sir  John  Hawkins  means  by  the  cold  reception  of 
Irene.  (See  a7ite,  note,  p.  223.)  I  was  at  the  first  representation,  and 
most  of  the  subsequent.  It  was  much  applauded  the  first  night,  partic- 
ularly the  speech  on  to-morrow  [Act.  iii.  sc.  2].  It  ran  nine  nights  at 
least.  It  did  not  indeed  become  a  stock-play,  but  there  was  not  the 
least  opposition  during  the  representation,  except  the  first  night  in  the 
last  act,  where  Irene  was  to  be  strangled  on  the  stage,  which  John 
could  not  bear,  though  a  dramatick  poet  may  stab  or  slay  by  hun- 
dreds. The  bow-string  was  not  a  Christian  nor  an  ancient  Greek  or 
Roman  death.  But  this  offence  was  removed  after  the  first  night,  and 
Irene  went  off  the  stage  to  be  strangled. — Burney. 

'  According  to  the  Gent.  Mag.  (xix.  76)  '  it  was  acted  from  Monday, 
Feb.  6,  to  Monday,  Feb.  20,  inclusive.'  A  letter  in  the  Garrick  Corres. 
(i.  32),  dated  April  3,  1745,  seems  to  shew  that  so  long  a  run  was  un- 
common. The  writer  addressing  Garrick  says  : — '  You  have  now  per- 
formed it  [  Tancred]  for  nine  nights ;  consider  the  part,  and  whether 
nature  can  well  support  the  frequent  repetition  of  such  shocks.  Per- 
mit me  to  advise  you  to  resolve  not  to  act  upon  any  account  above 
three  times  a  week.'  Yet  against  this  may  be  set  the  following  pas- 
sage in  The  Rambler,  No.  123: — 'At  last  a  malignant  author,  whose 
performance  I  had  persecuted  through  the  nine  nights,  wrote  an 
epigram  upon  Tape  the  critic,  which  drove  me  from  the  pit  for 
ever.'  Murphy  writing  in  1792  said  that  Irene  had  not  been  exhib- 
ited on  any  stage  since  its  first  representation.  Murphy's  Johnson, 
p.  52. 

Dodsley, 


230  Johnson  no  tragedy-writer.  [a.d.  1749, 

Dodsley,  it  appears  that  his  friend  Mr.  Robert  Dodsley  gave 
him  one  hundred  pounds  for  the  copy,  with  his  usual  reserva- 
tion of  the  right  of  one  edition'. 

Irene,  considered  as  a  poem,  is  intitled  to  the  praise  of 
superiour  excellence'.  Analysed  into  parts,  it  will  furnish 
a  rich  store  of  noble  sentiments,  fine  imagery,  and  beautiful 
language  ;  but  it  is  deficient  in  pathos,  in  that  delicate  power 
of  touching  the  human  feelings,  which  is  the  principal  end  of 
the  drama'.  Indeed  Garrick  has  complained  to  me,  that 
Johnson  not  only  had  not  the  faculty  of  producing  the  im- 
pressions of  tragedy,  but  that  he  had  not  the  sensibility  to 
perceive  them.  His  great  friend  Mr.  Walmsley's  prediction, 
that  he  would  '  turn  out  a  fine  tragedy-writer*,'  was,  there- 
fore, ill-founded.  Johnson  was  wise  enough  to  be  convinced 
that  he  had  not  the  talents  necessary  to  write  successfully  for 
the  stage,  and  never  made  another  attempt  in  that  species  of 
composition'. 

'  Mr.  Croker  says  that  '  it  appears  by  a  MS.  note  in  Isaac  Reed's 
copy  of  Murphy's  Lt/e,  that  the  receipts  of  the  third,  sixth,  and  ninth 
nights,  after  deducting  sixty  guineas  a  night  for  the  expenses  of  the 
house,  amounted  to  ;{^I95  17 s.:  Johnson  cleared  therefore,  with  the 
copyright,  very  nearly  ;^3oo.'  Irene  was  sold  at  the  price  of  is.  6d.  a 
copy  {Cent.  Mag.  xix.  96) ;  so  that  Dodsley  must  have  looked  for  a 
very  large  sale. 

*  See  post,  1780,  in  Mr.  Langton's  Collection  for  Johnson's  estimate 
of  Irene  in  later  life. 

'  Aaron  Hill  (vol.  ii.  p.  355),  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Mallett,  gives  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  Irene  after  having  seen  it :  '  I  was  at  the  anomalous 
Mr.  Johnson's  benefit,  and  found  the  play  his  proper  representative ; 
strong  sense  ungraced  by  sweetness  or  decorum.'     Boswell. 

*  See  ante,  p.  118. 

*  Murphy  {Life,  p.  53)  says  that  '  some  years  afterwards,  when  he 
knew  Johnson  to  be  in  distress,  he  asked  Garrick  why  he  did  not  pro- 
duce another  tragedy  for  his  Lichfield  friend  .''  Garrick's  answer  was 
remarkable  :  "  When  Johnson  writes  tragedy,  declamation  roars,  and 
passion  sleeps  :  when  Shakespeare  wrote,  he  dipped  his  pen  in  his  own 
heart." '  Johnson  was  perhaps  aware  of  the  causes  of  his  failure  as  a 
tragedy-writer.  In  his  criticism  of  Addison's  Cato  he  says  : — '  Of  Cato 
It  has  been  not  unjustly  determined,  that  it  is  rather  a  p>oem  in  dia- 
logue than  a  drama,  rather  a  succession  of  just  sentiments  in  elegant 

When 


Aetat.40.]  'Like  the  Monument'  231 


When  asked  how  he  felt  upon  the  ill  success  of  his  tragedy, 
he  replied,  'Like  the  Monument';'  meaning  that  he  con- 
tinued firm  and  unmoved  as  that  column.  And  let  it  be 
remembered,  as  an  admonition  to  the  gemis  irriiabiU*  of 
dramatick  writers,  that  this  great  man,  instead  of  peevish- 
ly complaining  of  the  bad  taste  of  the  town,  submitted  to 
its  decision  without  a  murmur.     He  had,  indeed,  upon  all 

language  than  a  representation  of  natural  affections,  or  of  any  state 
probable  or  possible  in  human  life.  .  .  .  The  events  are  expected  with- 
out solicitude,  and  are  remembered  without  joy  or  sorrow.  ...  Its 
success  has  introduced  or  confirmed  among  us  the  use  of  dialogue  too 
declamatory,  of  unaffecting  elegance  and  chill  philosophy.'  Works, 
vii.  456.  'Johnson  thought  Cato  the  best  model  of  tragedy  we  had; 
yet  he  used  to  say,  of  all  things  the  most  ridiculous  would  be  to  see  a 
girl  cry  at  the  representation  of  it.'  Johnson's  Works  (1787)  xi.  207. 
Cato,  if  neglected,  has  added  at  least  eight  '  habitual  quotations '  to 
the  language  (see  Thackeray's  English  Humourists,  p.  98).  Irene  has 
perhaps  not  added  a  single  one.  It  has  nevertheless  some  quotable 
lines,  such  as — 

'Crowds  that  hide  a  monarch  from  himself.'        Act  i.  sc.  4. 
'To  cant  ...  of  reason  to  a  lover.'  Act  iii.  sc.  i. 

'  When  e'en  as  love  was  breaking  off  from  wonder, 
And  tender  accents  quiver'd  on  my  lips.'  lb. 

'  And  fate  lies  crowded  in  a  narrow  space.'         Act  iii.  sc.  6. 
'  Reflect  that  life  and  death,  affecting  sounds, 
Are  only  varied  modes  of  endless  being.'  Act  iii.  sc.  8. 

'  Directs  the  planets  with  a  careless  nod.'  lb. 

'  Far  as  futurity's  untravell'd  waste.'  Act  iv.  sc.  i. 

'And  wake  from  ignorance  the  western  world.'  Act  iv.  sc.  2. 
'Through  hissing  ages  a  proverbial  coward. 
The  tale  of  women,  and  the  scorn  of  fools.'      Act  iv.  sc.  3. 
'  No  records  but  the  records  of  the  sky.'  lb. 

' .  .  .  thou  art  sunk  beneath  reproach.'  Act  v.  sc.  2. 

'Oh  hide  me  from  myself.'  Act  v.  sc.  3. 

'  Johnson  wrote  of  Milton  : — '  I  cannot  but  conceive  him  calm  and 
confident,  little  disappointed,  not  at  all  dejected,  relying  on  his  own 
merit  with  steady  consciousness,  and  waiting  without  impatience  the 
vicissitudes  of  opinion,  and  the  impartiality  of  a  future  generation.' 
Johnson's  Works,  vii.  108. 

*  'Genus  irritabile  vatum.' 

'  The  fretful  tribe  of  rival  poets.' 

Francis,  Horace,  Ep.  ii.  2.  102. 
occasions. 


232  Deference  for  the  general  opinion,    [a. d.  1749. 

occasions,  a  great  deference  for  the  general  opinion' :  'A  man 
(said  he)  who  writes  a  book,  thinks  himself  wiser  or  wittier 
than  the  rest  of  mankind  ;  he  supposes  that  he  can  instruct 
or  amuse  them,  and  the  publick  to  whom  he  appeals,  must, 
after  all,  be  the  judges  of  his  pretensions.' 

On  occasion  of  his  play  being  brought  upon  the  stage, 
Johnson  had  a  fancy  that  as  a  dramatick  authour  his  dress 
should  be  more  gay  than  what  he  ordinarily  wore ;  he  there- 
fore appeared  behind  the  scenes,  and  even  in  one  of  the  side 
boxes,  in  a  scarlet  waistcoat,  with  rich  gold  lace,  aijd  a  gold- 
laced  hat^  He  humourously  observed  to  Mr.  Langton,  'that 
when  in  that  dress  he  could  not  treat  people  with  the  same 
ease  as  when  in  his  usual  plain  clothes'.'     Dress  indeed,  we 

'  This  deference  he  enforces  in  many  passages  in  his  writings ;  as 
for  instance  : — '  Dryden  might  have  observed,  that  what  is  good  only 
because  it  pleases,  cannot  be  pronounced  good  till  it  has  been  found 
to  please.'  Johnson's  Works,  vii.  252.  '  The  authority  of  Addison  is 
great ;  yet  the  voice  of  the  people,  when  to  please  the  people  is  the 
purpose,  deserves  regard.'  lb.  376.  •  About  things  on  which  the  pub- 
lic thinks  long,  it  commonly  attains  to  think  right.'  lb.  456.  '  These 
apologies  are  always  useless  :  "  de  gustibus  non  est  disputandum  ;" 
men  may  be  convinced,  but  they  cannot  be  pleased  against  their  will.' 
lb.  viii.  26.  '  Of  things  that  terminate  in  human  life,  the  world  is  the 
proper  judge ;  to  despise  its  sentence,  if  it  were  possible,  is  not  just ; 
and  if  it  were  just,  is  not  possible.'  lb.  viii.  316.  Lord  Chesterfield  in 
writmg  to  his  son  about  his  first  appearance  in  the  world  said,  '  You 
will  be  tried  and  judged  there,  not  as  a  boy,  but  as  a  man  ;  and  from 
that  moment  there  is  no  appeal  for  character.'  Lord  Chesterfield's 
Letters,  iii.  324.  Addison  in  The  Guardian,  No.  98,  had  said  that '  men 
of  the  best  sense  are  always  diffident  of  their  private  judgment,  till  it 
receives  a  sanction  from  the  public.  Provoco  ad popu/um,  I  appeal  to 
the  people,  was  the  usual  saying  of  a  very  excellent  dramatic  poet, 
when  he  had  any  disputes  with  particular  persons  about  the  justness 
and  regularity  of  his  productions.'     See  post,  March  23,  1783. 

*  '  Were  I,'  he  said,  '  to  wear  a  laced  or  embroidered  waistcoat,  it 
should  be  very  rich.  I  had  once  a  very  rich  laced  waistcoat,  which  I 
wore  the  first  night  of  my  tragedy.'    Boswell's  Hebrides,  Oct.  27,  1773. 

• '  Topham  Beauclerc  used  to  give  a  pleasant  description  of  this 
greenroom  finery,  as  related  by  the  author  himself :  "  But,"  said  John- 
son, with  great  gravity,  "  I  soon  laid  aside  my  gold-laced  hat,  lest  it 
should  make  me  proud."'    Murphy's  Johnson,  p.  52.    In  The  Idler  (No. 

must 


Aetat.4l.]        yohnson  in  the  Green  Room.  233 

must  allow,  has  more  effect  even  upon  strong  minds  than  one 
should  suppose,  without  having  had  the  experience  of  it. 
His  necessary  attendance  while  his  play  was  in  rehearsal,  and 
during  its  performance,  brought  him  acquainted  with  many 
of  the  performers  of  both  sexes,  which  produced  a  more 
favourable  opinion  of  their  profession  than  he  had  harshly 
expressed  in  his  Life  of  Savage'.  With  some  of  them  he 
kept  up  an  acquaintance  as  long  as  he  and  they  lived,  and 
was  ever  ready  to  shew  them  acts  of  kindness.  He  for  a  con- 
siderable time  used  to  frequent  the  Green  Room,  and  seemed 
to  take  delight  in  dissipating  his  gloom,  by  mixing  in  the 
sprightly  chit-chat  of  the  motley  circle  then  to  be  found 
there".  Mr.  David  Hume  related  to  me  from  Mr.  Garrick, 
that  Johnson  at  last  denied  himself  this  amusement,  from 
considerations  of  rigid  virtue ;  saying,  '  I'll  come  no  more 
behind  your  scenes,  David  ;  for  the  silk  stockings  and  white 
bosoms  of  your  actresses  excite  my  amorous  propensities.' 

1750:  i4iTAT.  41.] — In  1750  he  came  forth  in  the  character 
for  which  he  was  eminently  qualified,  a  majestick  teacher  of 
moral  and  religious  wisdom.  The  vehicle  which  he  chose 
was  that  of  a  periodical  paper,  which  he  knew  had  been,  upon 
former  occasions,  employed  with  great  success.  The  Taller, 
Spectator,  and  Guardian,  were  the  last  of  the  kind  published 
in  England,  which  had  stood  the  test  of  a  long  triar;  and 
such  an  interval  had  now  elapsed  since  their  publication,  as 
made  him  justly  think  that,  to  many  of  his  readers,  this  form 


62)  we  have  an  account  of  a  man  who  had  longed  to  '  issue  forth  in 
all  the  splendour  of  embroider}'.'  When  his  fine  clothes  were  brought, 
'  I  felt  myself  obstructed,'  he  wrote,  '  in  the  common  intercourse  of 
civility  by  an  uneasy  consciousness  of  my  new  appearance  ;  as  I 
thought  myself  more  observed,  I  was  more  anxious  about  my  mien 
and  behaviour ;  and  the  mien  which  is  formed  by  care  is  commonly 
ridiculous.' 

'  See  ante,  p.  193. 

*  S^e^  post,  1780,  in  Mr.  Langton's  Collection. 

*  The  Tatler  came  to  an  end  on  Jan.  2,  1710-1  ;  the  first  series  of 
The  spectator  on  Dec.  6,  1712  ;  The  Guardian  on  Oct.  i,  1713  ;  and  the 
second  series  of  The  Spectator  on  Dec.  20,  17 14. 

of 


234  The  Rambler.  [a.d.  i750. 

of  instruction  would,  in  some  degree,  have  the  advantage  of 
novelty.  A  few  days  before  the  first  of  his  Essays  came  out, 
there  started  another  competitor  for  fame  in  the  same  form, 
under  the  title  of  The  Tatler  Revived\  which  I  believe  was 
'born  but  to  die'.'  Johnson  was,  I  think,  not  very  happy  in 
the  choice  of  his  title,  The  Rambler,  which  certainly  is  not 
suited  to  a  series  of  grave  and  moral  discourses;  which  the 
Italians  have  literally,  but  ludicrously  translated  by  //  Vaga- 
hondo^  \  and  which  has  been  lately  assumed  as  the  denomina- 
tion of  a  vehicle  of  licentious  tales,  The  Rambler  s  Magazine. 
He  gave  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  the  following  account  of  its 
getting  this  name :  '  What  must  be  done,  Sir,  will  be  done. 
When  I  was  to  begin  publishing  that  paper,  I  was  at  a  loss 
how  to  name  it.  I  sat  down  at  night  upon  my  bedside,  and 
resolved  that  I  would  not  go  to  sleep  till  I  had  fi.xed  its  title. 
The  Rambler  sQ^mcd  the  best  that  occurred,  and  I  took  it*.' 

With  what  devout  and  conscientious  sentiments  this  paper 
was  undertaken,  is  evidenced  by  the  following  prayer,  which 
he  composed  and  offered  up  on  the  occasion:  'Almighty 
God,  the  giver  of  all  good  things,  without  whose  help  all 
labor  is  ineffectual,  and  without  whose  grace  all  wisdom  is 

' '  Two  new  designs  have  appeared  about  the  middle  of  this  month 
[March  1750],  one  entitled,  The  Tatler  Revived ;  or  The  Christian 
Philosopher  and  Politician,  half  a  sheet,  price  id.  (stamp>ed) ;  the  other, 
The  Rambler,  three  half  sheets  (unstamped) ;  price  2.d.'  Gent.  Mag. 
XX.  126. 

*  Popes  Essay  on  Man,  ii.  10. 

'  Stt.  post,  under  Oct.  12,  1779. 

*  I  have  heard  Dr.  Warton  mention,  that  he  was  at  Mr.  Robert 
Dodsley's  with  the  late  Mr.  Moore,  and  several  of  his  friends,  con- 
sidering what  should  be  the  name  of  the  periodical  paper  which  Moore 
had  undertaken.  Garrick  proposed  The  Sallad,  which,  by  a  curious 
coincidence,  was  afterwards  applied  to  himself  by  Goldsmith  : 

'  Our  Garrick's  a  sallad,  for  in  him  we  see 
Oil,  vinegar,  sugar,  and  saltness  agree !' 

[Retaliation, Vmt  11.] 
At  last,  the  company  having  separated,  without  any  thing  of  which 
they  approved  having  been  ofTered,  Dodsley  himself  thought  of  The 
World.     BOSWELL. 

folly ; 


Actat,  41.]       Contributors  to  The  Rambler.  235 

folly ;  grant,  I  beseech  Thee,  that  in  this  undertaking'  thy 
Holy  Spirit  may  not  be  with-held  from  me,  but  that  I  may 
promote  thy  glory,  and  the  salvation  of  myself  and  others : 
grant  this,  O  LORD,  for  the  sake  of  thy  son  Jesus  Christ. 
Amen\' 

The  first  paper  of  The  Rambler  was  published  on  Tuesday 
the  20th  of  March,  1750;  and  its  authour  was  enabled  to 
continue  it,  without  interruption,  every  Tuesday  and  Friday, 
till  Saturday  the  17th  of  March,  1752',  on  which  day  it  closed. 
This  is  a  strong  confirmation  of  the  truth  of  a  remark  of  his, 
which  I  have  had  occasion  to  quote  elsewhere*,  that  '  a  man 
may  write  at  any  time,  if  he  will  set  himself  doggedly  to  it' ;' 
for,  notwithstanding  his  constitutional  indolence,  his  depres- 
sion of  spirits,  and  his  labour  in  carrying  on  his  Dictionary, 
he  answered  the  stated  calls  of  the  press  twice  a  week  from 
the  stores  of  his  mind,  during  all  that  time;  having  received 
no  assistance,  except  four  billets  in  No.  10,  by  Miss  Mulso, 
now  Mrs.  Chapone';  No.  30,  by  Mrs.  Catharine  Talbot";  No. 
97,  by  Mr.  Samuel  Richardson,  whom  he  describes  in  an  in- 
troductory note  as  'An  author  who  has  enlarged  the  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature,  and  taught  the  passions  to  move  at 

»  In  the  original  MS.  'in  this  my  undertaking,'  and  below,  'the  sal- 
vation both  of  myself  and  others.' 

•  Prayers  and  Meditations,  p.  9.     BoswELL. 

'  In  the  original  folio  edition  of  The  Ratnbler  the  concluding  paper 
is  dated  Saturday,  March  17.  But  Saturday  was  in  fact  March  14. 
This  circumstance  is  worth  notice,  for  Mrs.  Johnson  died  on  the  17th. 
Malone. 

•  Journal  0/  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  3d  edit.  p.  28.  [Aug.  16,  1773]. 
BOSWELL. 

'  '  Gray  had  a  notion  not  very  peculiar,  that  he  could  not  write 
but  at  certain  times,  or  at  happy  moments ;  a  fantastic  foppery,  to 
which  my  kindness  for  a  man  of  learning  and  virtue  wishes  him  to 
have  been  superior.'  Johnson's  Works,  viii.  482.  See  post,  under 
April  15,  1758. 

•  Her  correspondence  with  Richardson  and  Mrs.  Carter  was  pub- 
lished in  1807. 

'  The  correspondence  between  her  and  Mrs.  Carter  was  published 
in  1808. 

the 


236  Revisio7i  of  The  Rambler.  [a.d.  1750. 

the  command  of  virtue ;'  and  Nos.  44  and  100  by  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Carter. 

Posterity  will  be  astonished  when  they  are  told,  upon  the 
authority  of  Johnson  himself,  that  many  of  these  discourses, 
which  we  should  suppose  had  been  laboured  with  all  the  slow 
attention  of  literary  leisure,  wxre  written  in  haste  as  the  mo- 
ment pressed,  without  even  being  read  over  by  him  before 
they  were  printed'.  It  can  be  accounted  for  only  in  this 
way;  that  by  reading  and  meditation,  and  a  very  close  inspec- 
tion of  life,  he  had  accumulated  a  great  fund  of  miscellaneous 
knowledge,  which,  by  a  peculiar  promptitude  of  mind,  was 
ever  ready  at  his  call,  and  which  he  had  constantly  accus- 
tomed himself  to  clothe  in  the  most  apt  and  energetick  ex- 
pression.     Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  once  asked  him   by  what 

'  Dr.  Birch  says : — '  The  proprietor  of  the  Rambler,  Cave,  told  me 
that  copy  was  seldom  sent  to  the  press  till  late  in  the  night  before  the 
day  of  publication.'  Croker's  Boswell,  p.  121,  note.  See  post,  April  12, 
1776,  and  beginning  of  1781. 

Johnson  carefully  revised  the  Katnblers  for  the  collected  edition. 
The  editor  of  the  Oxford  edition  of  Johnson's  Works  states  (ii.  x), 
that  '  the  alterations  exceeded  six  thousand.'  The  following  passage 
from  the  last  number  affords  a  good  instance  of  this  revision. 

First  edition. 
'  I  have  never  complied  with  temporary  curiosity,  nor  furnished  my 
readers  with  abilities  to  discuss  the  topic  of  the  day ;  I  have  seldom 
exemplified  my  assertions  by  living  characters  ;  from  my  papers  there- 
fore no  man  could  hope  either  censures  of  his  enemies  or  praises  of 
himself,  and  they  only  could  be  expected  to  peruse  them,  whose  pas- 
sions left  them  leisure  for  the  contemplation  of  abstracted  truth,  and 
whom  virtue  could  please  by  her  native  dignity  without  the  assistance 
of  modish  ornaments.'     Gent.  Mag.  xxii.  117. 

Revised  Edition. 
'  I  have  never  complied  with  temporary  curiosity,  nor  enabled  my 
readers  to  discuss  the  topic  of  the  day ;  I  have  rarely  exemplified  my 
assertions  by  living  characters ;  in  my  papers  no  man  could  look  for 
censures  of  his  enemies,  or  praises  of  himself ;  and  they  only  were  ex- 
pected to  peruse  them,  whose  passions  left  them  leisure  for  abstracted 
truth,  and  whom  virtue  could  please  by  its  naked  dignity.'  Johnson's 
Works,  iii.  462. 

means 


Aetat.41.]  yoktisons  rapid  composition.  237 

means  he  had  attained  his  extraordinary  accuracy  and  flow 
of  language.  He  told  him,  that  he  had  early  laid  it  down  as 
a  fixed  rule  to  do  his  best  on  every  occasion,  and  in  every 
company ;  to  impart  whatever  he  knew  in  the  most  forcible 
language  he  could  put  it  in  ;  and  that  by  constant  practice, 
and  never  suffering  any  careless  expressions  to  escape  him, 
or  attempting  to  deliver  his  thoughts  without  arranging  them 
in  the  clearest  manner,  it  became  habitual  to  him'. 

Yet  he  was  not  altogether  unprepared  as  a  periodical 
writer;  for  I  have  in  my  possession  a  small  duodecimo  vol- 
ume, in  which  he  has  written,  in  the  form  of  Mr.  Locke's 
Common-Place  Book,  a  variety  of  hints  for  essays  on  different 
subjects.  He  has  marked  upon  the  first  blank  leaf  of  it,  'To 
the  128th  page,  collections  for  the  Rambler;'  and  in  another 
place,  'In  fifty-two  there  were  seventeen  provided  ;  in  97 — 
21  ;  in  190 — 25.'  At  a  subsequent  period  (probably  after 
the  work  was  finished)  he  added,  '  In  all,  taken  of  provided 
materials,  30'.' 

Sir  John  Hawkins,  who  is  unlucky  upon  all  occasions,  tells 
us,  that  'this  method  of  accumulating  intelligence  had  been 
practised  by  Mr.  Addison,  and  is  humourously  described  in 
one  of  the  Spectators',  wherein  he  feigns  to  have  dropped  his 
paper  of  tiotanda,  consisting  of  a  diverting  medley  of  broken 
sentences  and  loose  hints,  which  he  tells  us  he  had  collected, 
and  meant  to  make  use  of.  Much  of  the  same  kind  is  John- 
son's Adversaria* .'  But  the  truth  is,  that  there  is  no  resem- 
blance at  all  between  them.  Addison's  note  was  a  fiction, 
in  which  unconnected  fragments  of  his  lucubrations  were  pur- 
posely jumbled  together,  in  as  odd  a  manner  as  he  could,  in 
order  to  produce  a  laughable  effect.      Whereas  Johnson's 

'  'Such  relicks  [Milton's  early  manuscripts]  shew  how  excellence  is 
acquired ;  what  we  hope  ever  to  do  with  ease,  we  must  learn  first  to 
do  with  diligence.'     Johnson's  Works,  vii.  119. 

'  Of  the  first  52  Ramblers  49  were  wholly  by  Johnson  ;  of  the  last 
156,  154.  He  seems  to  say  that  in  the  first  49,  17  were  written  from 
notes,  and  in  the  last  154  only  13. 

*  No.  46. 

♦  Hawkins's  Life  of  Johnson,  p.  268  [p.  265].     BoswELL. 

abbreviations 


238  Hints  for  The  Rambler.  [a.d.  1760. 

abbreviations  are  all  distinct,  and  applicable  to  each  subject 
of  which  the  head  is  mentioned. 

For  instance,  there  is  the  following  specimen  : 

Youth's  Entry,  &c. 

'  Baxter's  account  of  things  in  which  he  had  changed  his 
mind  as  he  grew  up.  Voluminous. — No  wonder. — If  every 
man  was  to  tell,  or  mark,  on  how  many  subjects  he  has 
changed,  it  would  make  vols,  but  the  changes  not  always 
observed  by  man's  self. — From  pleasure  to  bus.  [d2^stHess'\  to 
quiet ;  from  thoughtfulness  to  reflect,  to  piety ;  from  dissi- 
pation to  domestic,  by  impercept.  gradat.  but  the  change  is 
certain.  T)\-a}i  non  progredi, progress,  esse  conspicinrus.  Look 
back,  consider  what  was  thought  at  some  dist.  period. 

'  Hope  predoni.  in  youth.  Mind  not  willingly  indulges  un- 
pleasing  thoughts.  The  world  lies  all  enameled  before  him, 
as  a  distant  prospect  sun-gilt' ;  inequalities  only  found  by  com- 
ing to  it.  Love  is  to  be  all  joy — children  excellent — Fame  to  be 
constant — caresses  of  the  great — applauses  of  the  learned — 
smiles  of  Beauty. 

'  Fear  of  disgrace — bashfubiess — Finds  things  of  less  im- 
portance. Miscarriages  forgot  like  excellencies ; — if  remem- 
bered, of  no  import.  Danger  of  sinking  into  negligence  of 
reputation.     Lest  the  fear  of  disgrace  destroy  activity. 

'  Confidence  in  himself.  Long  tract  of  life  before  him. — No 
thought  of  sickness. — Embarrassment  of  affairs. — Distraction 
of  family.  Publick  calamities. — No  sense  of  the  prevalence 
of  bad  habits. — Negligent  of  time — ready  to  undertake — care- 
less to  pursue — all  changed  by  time. 

*  Confident  of  others — unsuspecting  as  unexperienced — im- 
agining himself  secure  against  neglect,  never  imagines  they 
will  venture  to  treat  him  ill.     Ready  to  trust ;  expecting  to 

'  '  The  sly  shadow  steals  away  upon  the  dial,  and  the  quickest  eye 
can  distinguish  no  more  than  that  it  is  gone.'  Glanville,  quoted  in 
Johnson's  Dictionary. 

'  This  most  beautiful  image  of  the  enchanting  delusion  of  youthful 
prospect  has  not  been  used  in  any  of  Johnson's  essays.     Boswell. 

be 


Aetat.4i.]  Hints  for  The  Rambler.  239 

be  trusted.  Convinced  by  time  of  the  selfishness,  the  mean- 
ness, the  cowardice,  the  treachery  of  men. 

'  Youth  ambitious,  as  thinking  honours  easy  to  be  had. 

'  Different  kinds  of  praise  pursued  at  different  periods.  Of 
the  gay  in  youth,  dang,  hurt,  &c.  despised. 

*  Of  the  fancy  in  manhood.  Ambit. — stocks — bargains. — 
Of  the  wise  and  sober  in  old  age — seriousness — formality — 
maxims,  but  general  —  only  of  the  rich,  otherwise  age  is 
happy — but  at  last  every  thing  referred  to  riches — no  hav- 
ing fame,  honour,  influence,  without  subjection  to  caprice. 

'  Horace'. 

'  Hard  it  would  be  if  men  entered  life  with  the  same  views 
with  which  they  leave  it,  or  left  as  they  enter  it. — No  hope — 
no  undertaking — no  regard  to  benevolence — no  fear  of  dis- 
grace, &c. 

'  Youth  to  be  taught  the  piety  of  age — age  to  retain  the 
honour  of  youth.' 

This,  it  will  be  observed,  is  the  sketch  of  Number  196  of  The 
Rambler.     I  shall  gratify  my  readers  with  another  specimen  : 

'  Confederacies  difficult ;  ivhy. 

*  Seldom  in  war  a  match  for  single  persons — nor  in  peace  , 
therefore  kings  make  themselves  absolute.  Confederacies 
in  learning— every  great  work  the  work  of  one.  Bruy. 
Scholar's  friendship  like  ladies.  Scribebamus,  &c.  Mart.* 
the  apple  of  discord — the  laurel  of  discord — the  poverty  of 
criticism.  Swift's  opinion  of  the  power  of  six  geniuses 
united'.     That    union    scarce  possible.      His  remarks  just ; 

*  From  Horace  {Ars  Poet.  1.  175)  he  takes  his  motto  for  the  num- 
ber : — 

'  Multa  ferunt  anni  venientes  commoda  secum, 

Malta  recedentes  adimunt.' 
'  The  blessings  flowing  in  with  life's  full  tide 
Down  with  our  ebb  of  life  decreasing  glide.'      Francis. 
'  Lib.  xii.  96  [95].     '  In  Tuccam  aemulum  omnium  suorum  studio- 
rum.'     Malone. 

'  'There  never  appear,'  says  Swift,  'more  than  five  or  six  men  of 
genius  in  an  age ;  but  if  they  were  united,  the  world  could  not  stand 
before  them.'     Johnson's  Works,  iv.  18. 

man 


240  Hints  for  The  Rambler.  [a.d.  1750. 

man  a  social,  not  steady  nature.  Drawn  to  man  by  words, 
repelled  by  passions.  Orb  drawn  by  attraction  rep.  {repelled^ 
by  centrifugal. 

'  Common  danger  unites  by  crushing  other  passions — but 
they  return.  Equality  hinders  compliance.  Superiority  pro- 
duces insolence  and  envy.  Too  much  regard  in  each  to  pri- 
vate interest — too  little. 

'The  mischiefs  of  private  and  exclusive  societies  —  the 
fitness  of  social  attraction  diffused  through  the  whole.  The 
mischiefs  of  too  partial  love  of  our  country.  Contraction  of 
moral  duties — ot  (f>c\oi  ov  (f)tXo<i\ 

'  Every  man  moves  upon  his  own  center,  and  therefore  re- 
pels others  from  too  near  a  contact,  though  he  may  comply 
with  some  general  laws. 

'  Of  confederacy  with  superiours,  every  one  knows  the  in- 
convenience. With  equals,  no  authority ; — ever>^  man  his 
own  opinion — his  own  interest. 

'Man  and  wife  hardly  united; — scarce  ever  without  chil- 
dren. Computation,  if  two  to  one  against  two,  how  many 
against  five  ?  If  confederacies  were  easy^ — useless  ; — many 
oppresses  many. — If  possible  only  to  some,  dangerous.  Prin- 
cipum  amicitias'.* 

Here  we  see  the  embryo  of  Number  45  of  The  Adventurer  \ 
and  it  is  a  confirmation  of  what  I  shall  presently  have  occa- 
sion to  mention^  that  the  papers  in  that  collection  marked 
T.  were  written  by  Johnson. 

'  In  the  first  edition  this  is  printed  J  <^CKoi  ov  (f)i\os ;  in  the  second, 
cJ  (f>i\oi  ov  <Pi\os ;  in  the  '  Corrections '  to  the  second,  we  find  '  for  « 
read  o' ;'  in  the  third  it  is  printed  as  above.  In  three  editions  we  have 
therefore  five  readings  of  the  first  word.  See  pos/,  April  15,  1778, 
where  lohnson  says :  '  An  old  Greek  said,  "  He  that  has  friends  has 
no  friend," 'and  April  24,  1779,  where  he  says:  '  Garrick  had  friends 
but  no  friend.' 

*  '  gravesque 
Principum  amicitias.' 

'And  fatal  friendships  of  the  guilty  great.' 

Francis,  Horace,  Oites,  u.  1.4. 

*  Post,  under  Jan.  i,  1753. 

This 


Aetat.4l.]         Fertility  of  Johnsons  mind.  241 

This  scanty  preparation  of  materials  will  not,  however, 
much  diminish  our  wonder  at  the  extraordinary  fertility  of 
his  mind  ;  for  the  proportion  which  they  bear  to  the  num- 
ber of  essays  which  he  wrote,  is  very  small ;  and  it  is  remark- 
able, that  those  for  which  he  had  made  no  preparation,  are  as 
rich  and  as  highly  finished  as  those  for  which  the  hints  were 
lying  by  him.  It  is  also  to  be  observed,  that  the  papers 
formed  from  his  hints  are  worked  up  with  such  strength  and 
elegance,  that  we  almost  lose  sight  of  the  hints,  which  be- 
come like  'drops  in  the  bucket.'  Indeed,  in  several  instances, 
he  has  made  a  very  slender  use  of  them,  so  that  many  of  them 
remain  still  unapplied'. 

As  The  Rambler  was  entirely  the  work  of  one  man,  there 
was,  of  course,  such  a  uniformity  in  its  texture,  as  very  much 
to  exclude  the  charm  of  variety' ;  and  the  grave  and  often 
solemn  cast  of  thinking,  which  distinguished  it  from  other 
periodical  papers,  made  it,  for  some  time,  not  generally  liked. 
So  slowly  did  this  excellent  work,  of  which  twelve  editions 


'  Sir  John  Hawkins  has  selected  from  this  little  collection  of  ma- 
terials, what  he  calls  the  '  Rudiments  of  two  of  the  papers  of  the 
Rambler.'  But  he  has  not  been  able  to  read  the  manuscript  distinctly. 
Thus  he  writes,  p.  266,  'Sailor's  fate  any  mansion  ;'  whereas  the  origi- 
nal is  *  Sailor's  life  my  aversion.'  He  has  also  transcribed  the  unap- 
propriated hmts  on  Writers  for  bread,  m  which  he  decyphers  these 
notable  passages,  one  in  \jsX\x\,  fatui  tton  famce,  instead  oi  /ami  non 
fames;  Johnson  having  in  his  mind  what  Thuanus  says  of  the  learned 
German  antiquary  and  linguist,  Xylander,  who,  he  tells  us,  lived  in 
such  poverty,  that  he  was  supposed /(r?w/  ftott  famce  scribcre ;  and  an- 
other in  French,  Degente  de  fate  [fatu]  et  affanii  d' argent,  instead  of 
D^gout^  de  fa^ne,  (an  old  word  for  re>io?nm(fe)  et  affaim'  d'argent.  The 
manuscript  being  written  in  an  exceedingly  small  hand,  is  indeed  very 
hard  to  read ;  but  it  would  have  been  better  to  have  left  blanks  than 
to  write  nonsense.     Boswell. 

*  When  we  know  that  of  the  208  Ramblers  all  but  five  were  written 
by  Johnson,  it  is  amusing  to  read  a  passage  in  one  of  Miss  Talbot's 
letters  to  Mrs.  Carter,  dated  Oct.  20,  1750: — 'Mr.  Johnson  would,  I 
fear,  be  mortified  to  hear  that  people  know  a  paper  of  his  own  by  the 
sure  mark  of  somewhat  a  little  excessive,  a  little  exaggerated  in  the 
expression."     Carter  Cor  res.  i.  357. 

I. — 16  have 


242  Praise  for  The  Rambler.  [a.d.  1750. 

have  now  issued  from  the  press,  gain  upon  the  world  at  large, 
that  even  in  the  closing  number  the  authour  says,  '  I  have 
never  been  much  a  favourite  of  the  publick'.' 

Yet,  very  soon  after  its  commencement,  there  were  who 
felt  and  acknowledged  its  uncommon  excellence.  Verses  in 
its  praise  appeared  in  the  newspapers ;  and  the  editor  of  the 
Gentleman  s  Magazine  mentions,  in  October,  his  having  re- 
ceived several  letters  to  the  same  purpose  from  the  learned'. 


*  The  Ramblers  certainly  were  little  noticed  at  first.  Smart,  the 
poet,  first  mentioned  them  to  me  as  excellent  papers,  before  I  had 
heard  any  one  else  speak  of  them.  When  I  went  into  Norfolk,  in  the 
autumn  of  1751,  I  found  but  one  person,  (the  Rev.  Mr.  Squires,  a  man 
of  learning,  and  a  general  purchaser  of  new  books,)  who  knew  any- 
thing of  them.  Before  I  left  Norfolk  in  the  year  1760,  the  Ramblers 
were  in  high  favour  among  persons  of  learnmg  and  good  taste. 
Others  there  were,  devoid  of  both,  who  said  that  the  hard  words  in 
the  Rambler  were  used  by  the  authour  to  render  his  Dictionary  indis- 
f)ensably  necessary.  BuRNEV.  We  have  notices  of  The  Rambler  in 
the  Carter  Corres. : — '  May  28,  1 750.  The  author  ought  to  be  cautioned 
not  to  use  over  many  hard  words.  In  yesterday's  paper  (a  very  pretty 
one  indeed)  we  had  equiponderant,  and  another  so  hard  I  cannot  re- 
member it  [adscititious],  both  in  one  sentence.'  '  Dec.  17,  1750: — Mr. 
Cave  complains  of  him  for  not  admitting  correspondents;  this  does 
mischief.  In  the  main  I  think  he  is  to  be  applauded  for  it.  But  why 
then  does  he  not  write  now  and  then  on  the  living  manners  of  the 
times  ?'  In  writing  on  April  22,  1752,  just  after  The  Rambler  had  come 
to  an  end,  Miss  Talbot  says : — '  Indeed  'tis  a  sad  thing  that  such  a 
paper  should  have  met  with  discouragement  from  wise  and  learned 
and  good  people  too.  Many  are  the  disputes  it  has  cost  me,  and  not 
once  did  I  come  off  triumphant.'  Mrs.  Carter  replied  : — '  Many  a  bat- 
tle have  I  too  fought  for  him  in  the  country,  but  with  little  success.' 
Murphy  says : — '  Of  this  excellent  production  the  number  sold  on  each 
day  did  not  amount  to  five  hundred ;  of  course  the  bookseller,  who 
paid  the  author  four  guineas  a  week,  did  not  carry  on  a  successful 
trade.'     Murphy's  Johnson,  p.  59. 

'  Richardson  wrote  to  Cave  on  Aug.  9,  1750,  after  forty-one  numbers 
had  appeared  : — '  I  hope  the  world  tastes  them  ;  for  its  own  sake  I 
hope  the  world  tastes  them.  The  author  I  can  only  guess  at.  There 
is  but  one  man,  I  think,  that  could  write  them.'  Rich.  Corres.  i.  165, 
Cave  replied  : — '  Mr.  Johnson  is  the  Great  Rambler,  being,  as  you  ob- 
ser\^e,  the  only  man  who  can  furnish  two  such  papers  in  a  week,  be- 

1/e 


Aetat.  41.]         George  II.  not  aji  Augustus.  243 

The  Student,  or  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Miscellany,  in  which 
Mr.  Bonnell  Thornton  and  Mr.  Colman  were  the  principal 
writers,  describes  it  as  'a  work  that  exceeds  anything  of  the 
kind  ever  published  in  this  kingdom,  some  of  the  Spectators 
excepted  —  if  indeed  they  may  be  excepted.'  And  after- 
wards, '  May  the  publick  favours  crown  his  merits,  and  may 
not  the  English,  under  the  auspicious  reign  of  GEORGE  the 
Second,  neglect  a  man,  who,  had  he  lived  in  the  first  century, 
would  have  been  one  of  the  greatest  favourites  of  Augustus.* 
This  flattery  of  the  monarch  had  no  effect.  It  is  too  well 
known,  that  the  second  George  never  was  an  Augustus  to 
learning  or  genius'. 

Johnson  told  me,  with  an  amiable  fondness,  a  little  pleasing 
circumstance  relative  to  this  work.  Mrs.  Johnson,  in  whose 
judgement  and  taste  he  had  great  confidence,  said  to  him, 
after  a  few  numbers  of  The  Rambler  had  come  out, '  I  thought 
very  well  of  you  before ;  but  I  did  not  imagine  you  could 
have  written  anything  equal  to  this'.'  Distant  praise,  from 
whatever  quarter,  is  not  so  delightful  as  that  of  a  wife  whom 
a  man  loves  and  esteems.  Her  approbation  may  be  said  to 
*  come  home  to  his  boso)n ;'  and  being  so  near,  its  effect  is 
most  sensible  and  permanent. 

Mr.  James  Elphinston^  who  has  since  published  various 

sides  his  other  great  business.'  He  mentioned  the  recommendation 
it  received  from  high  quarters,  and  continued  : — '  Notwithstanding, 
whether  the  price  of  two-pence,  or  the  unfavourable  season  of  their 
first  publication  hinders  the  demand,  no  boast  can  be  made  of  it.' 
Johnson  had  not  wished  his  name  to  be  known.  Cave  says  that  '  Mr. 
Garrick  and  others,  who  knew  the  author's  powers  and  style  from  the 
first,  unadvisedly  asserting  their  suspicions,  overturned  the  scheme  of 
secrecy.'    lb.  pp.  168-170. 

'  Horace  Walpole,  while  justifying  George  H.  against  '  bookish  men 
who  have  censured  his  neglect  of  literature,'  says : — '  In  truth,  I  be- 
lieve King  George  would  have  preferred  a  guinea  to  a  composition  as 
perfect  as  Alexander  s  Feast.'     Reign  of  George  III,  iii.  304. 

*  •  Dr.  Johnson  said  to  an  acquaintance  of  mine,  "  My  other  works 
are  wine  and  water;  but  my  Rambler  is  pure  wine."  Rogers's  Table 
Talk,  p.  10. 

*  S^^post,  April  5,  1772 ;  April  19,  1773;  and  April  9,  1778. 

works. 


244  Letters  to  AI?-.  Elp/iinston.  [a.d.  1750. 

works,  and  who  was  ever  esteemed  by  Johnson  as  a  worthy- 
man,  happened  to  be  in  Scotland  while  The  Rambler  was  com- 
ing out  in  single  papers  at  London.  With  a  laudable  zeal 
at  once  for  the  improvement  of  his  countrymen,  and  the 
reputation  of  his  friend,  he  suggested  and  took  the  charge 
of  an  edition  of  those  Essays  at  Edinburgh,  which  followed 
progressively  the  London  publication'. 

The  following  letter  written  at  this  time,  though  not 
dated,  will  show  how  much  pleased  Johnson  was  with  this 
publication,  and  what  kindness  and  regard  he  had  for  Mr. 
Elphinston. 

'To  Mr.  James  Elphinston. 

[No  date.] 

'  Dear  Sir, 

'  1  cannot  but  confess  the  failures  of  my  correspondence,  but 
hope  the  same  regard  which  you  express  for  me  on  every  other 
occasion,  will  inclme  you  to  forgive  me.  I  am  often,  very  often, 
ill ;  and,  when  I  am  well,  am  obliged  to  work  :  and,  indeed,  have 
never  much  used  myself  to  punctuality.  You  are,  however,  not  to 
make  unkind  inferences,  when  I  forbear  to  reply  to  your  kindness ; 
for  be  assured,  I  never  receive  a  letter  from  you  without  great 
pleasure,  and  a  very  warm  sense  of  your  generosity  and  friendship, 
which  I  heartily  blame  myself  for  not  cultivating  with  more  care. 
In  this,  as  in  many  other  cases,  I  go  wrong,  in  opposition  to  con- 
viction; for  I  think  scarce  any  temporal  good  equally  to  be  de- 
sired with  the  regard  and  familiarity  of  worthy  men.  1  hope  we 
shall  be  some  time  nearer  to  each  other,  and  have  a  more  ready 
way  of  pouring  out  our  hearts. 

'  I  am  glad  that  you  still  find  encouragement  to  proceed  in  your 
publication,  and  shall  beg  the  favour  of  six  more  volumes  to  add 
to  my  former  six,  when  you  can,  with  any  convenience,  send  them 
me.     Please  to  present  a  set,  in  my  name,  to  Mr.  Ruddiman'^,  of 

'  It  was  executed  in  the  printing-office  of  Sands,  Murray,  and  Coch- 
ran, with  uncommon  elegance,  upon  writing-paper,  of  a  duodecimo 
size,  and  with  the  greatest  correctness ;  and  Mr.  Elphinston  enriched 
it  with  translations  of  the  mottos.  When  completed,  it  made  eight 
handsome  volumes.  It  is,  unquestionably,  the  most  accurate  and 
beautiful  edition  of  this  work  ;  and  there  being  but  a  small  impression, 
it  is  now  become  scarce,  and  sells  at  a  very  high  price.     Boswell. 

»  Mr.  Thomas  Ruddiman,  the  learned  grammarian  of  Scotland,  well 

whom, 


Aeut.4i.]  Letters  to  Mr.  Elphinston.  245 

whom,  I  hear,  that  his  learning  is  not  his  highest  excellence.  I 
have  transcribed  the  mottos,  and  returned  them,  I  hope  not  too  late, 
of  which  I  think  many  very  happily  performed.  Mr.  Cave  has  put 
the  last  in  the  magazine',  in  which  I  think  he  did  well.  I  beg  of 
you  to  write  soon,  and  to  write  often,  and  to  write  long  letters, 
which  I  hope  in  time  to  repay  you  ;  but  you  must  be  a  patient 
creditor.  I  have,  however,  this  of  gratitude,  that  I  think  of  you 
with  regard,  when  I  do  not,  perhaps,  give  the  proofs  which  I  ought, 
of  being,  Sir, 

'  Your  most  obliged  and 

'  Most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

This  year  he  wrote  to  the  same  gentleman  another  letter, 
upon  a  mournful  occasion. 

'To  Mr.  James  Elphinston. 
'Dear  Sir,  'September  25.  1750. 

'  You  have,  as  I  find  by  every  kind  of  evidence,  lost  an  excel- 
lent mother ;  and  I  hope  you  will  not  think  me  incapable  of  par- 
taking of  your  grief.  I  have  a  mother,  now  eighty-two  years  of 
age,  whom,  therefore,  I  must  soon  lose^  unless  it  please  God  that 
she  rather  should  mourn  for  me.  I  read  the  letters  in  which  you 
relate  your  mother's  death  to  Mrs.  Strahan\  and  think  I  do  myself 
honour,  when  I  tell  you  that  I  read  them  with  tears  ;  but  tears  are 
neither  to  yoii  nor  to  me  of  any  further  use,  when  once  the  tribute 
of  nature  has  been  paid.  The  business  of  life  summons  us  away 
from  useless  grief,  and  calls  us  to  the  exercise  of  those  virtues  of 
which  we  are  lamenting  our  deprivation.     The  greatest  benefit 

known  for  his  various  excellent  works,  and  for  his  accurate  editions  of 
several  authours.  He  was  also  a  man  of  a  most  worthy  private  char- 
acter. His  zeal  for  the  Royal  House  of  Stuart  did  not  render  him 
less  estimable  in  Dr.  Johnson's  eye.     Boswell. 

'  In  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  Sept.  1750,  and  for  Oct.  1752,  translations  of 
many  of  the  mottoes  were  given  ;  but  in  each  number  there  are  several 
of  Elphinston's.     Johnson  seems  to  speak  of  only  one. 

'  Writing  to  Miss  Porter  on  July  12,  1749,  he  said  : — '  I  was  afraid 
your  letter  had  brought  me  ill  news  of  my  mother,  whose  death  is  one 
of  the  few  calamities  on  which  I  think  with  terror.'  Croker's  Boswell, 
p.  62. 

•  Mr.  Strahan  was  Elphinston's  brother-in-law.     Post,  April  9,  1778. 

which 


246  The  death  of  a  mother.  [a.d.  1750. 


which  one  friend  can  confer  upon  another,  is  to  guard,  and  excite, 
and  elevate  his  virtues.  This  your  mother  will  still  perform,  if  you 
diligently  preserve  the  memory  of  her  life,  and  of  her  death  :  a 
life,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  useful,  wise,  and  innocent ;  and  a  death 
resigned,  peaceful,  and  holy.  I  cannot  forbear  to  mention,  that 
neither  reason  nor  revelation  denies  you  to  hope,  that  you  may  in- 
crease her  happiness  by  obeying  her  precepts ;  and  that  she  may, 
in  her  present  state,  look  with  pleasure  upon  every  act  of  virtue  to 
which  her  instructions  or  example  have  contributed.  Whether  this 
be  more  than  a  pleasing  dream,  or  a  just  opinion  of  separate 
spirits,  is,  indeed,  of  no  great  importance  to  us,  when  we  consider 
ourselves  as  acting  under  the  eye  of  God  :  yet,  surely,  there  is 
something  pleasing  in  the  belief,  that  our  separation  from  those 
whom  we  love  is  merely  corporeal ;  and  it  may  be  a  great  incitement 
to  virtuous  friendship,  if  it  can  be  made  probable,  that  that  union 
that  has  received  the  divine  approbation  shall  continue  to  eternity. 
'  There  is  one  expedient  by  which  you  may,  in  some  degree,  con- 
tinue her  presence.  If  you  write  down  minutely  what  you  remem- 
ber of  her  from  your  earliest  years,  you  will  read  it  with  great 
pleasure,  and  receive  from  it  many  hints  of  soothing  recollection, 
when  time  shall  remove  her  yet  farther  from  you,  and  your  grief 
shall  be  matured  to  veneration.  To  this,  however  painful  for  the 
present,  I  cannot  but  advise  you,  as  to  a  source  of  comfort  and 
satisfaction  in  the  time  to  come ;  for  all  comfort  and  all  satisfac- 
tion is  sincerely  wished  you  by,  dear  Sir, 

'  Your  most  obliged,  most  obedient, 
'  And  most  humble  servant, 

•  Sam.  Johnson.' 

Ike  Rambler  has  increased  in  fame  as  in  age.  Soon  after 
its  first  folio  edition  was  concluded,  it  was  published  in 
six  duodecimo  volumes' ;  and  its  authour  lived  to  see  ten 
numerous  editions'  of  it  in  London,  beside  those  of  Ireland 
and  Scotland'. 

•  In  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  January  1752,  in  the  list  of  books  published 
is : — '  A  correct  and  beautiful  edition  of  the  Rambler  in  4  volumes,  in 
i2mo.  Price  \2s.'  The  Rambler  was  not  concluded  till  the  following 
March.  The  remaining  two  volumes  were  published  in  July.  Gent. 
Mag.  xxii.  338. 

'  According  to  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  269)  each  edition  consisted  of  1250 
copies.  '  Se.&  post,  July  20,  1763. 

I  profess 


Aetat.  4l.j  Goldsmitfi  s  debt  to  J^ohnson.  247 

I  profess  myself  to  have  ever  entertained  a  profound 
veneration  for  the  astonishing  force  and  vivacity  of  mind 
which  The  Rambler  exhibits.  That  Johnson  had  penetration 
enough  to  see,  and  seeing  would  not  disguise  the  general 
misery  of  man  in  this  state  of  being,  may  have  given  rise  to 
the  superficial  notion  of  his  being  too  stern  a  philosopher. 
But  men  of  reflection  will  be  sensible  that  he  has  given  a 
true  representation  of  human  existence,  and  that  he  has,  at 
the  same  time,  with  a  generous  benevolence  displayed  every 
consolation  which  our  state  affords  us  ;  not  only  those  arising 
from  the  hopes  of  futurity,  but  such  as  may  be  attained  in 
the  immediate  progress  through  life.  He  has  not  depressed 
the  soul  to  despondency  and  indifference.  He  has  every- 
where inculcated  study,  labor,  and  exertion.  Nay,  he  has 
shewn,  in  a  very  odious  light,  a  man  whose  practice  is  to  go 
about  darkening  the  views  of  others  by  perpetual  complaints 
of  evil,  and  awakening  those  considerations  of  danger  and 
distress,  which  are,  for  the  most  part,  lulled  into  a  quiet 
oblivion.  This  he  has  done  very  strongly  in  his  character 
of  Suspirius',  from  which  Goldsmith  took  that  of  Croaker, 
in  his  comedy  of  The  Good-Natured  Man"" ,  as  Johnson  told 
me  he  acknowledged  to  him,  and  which  is,  indeed,  very 
obvious'. 

'  No.  55  [59].      BOSWELL. 

'  Miss  Burney  records  in  her  Diary  that  one  day  at  Streatham, 
while  she  and  Mrs.  Thrale  "were  reading  this  Rambler,  Dr.  Johnson 
came  in.  We  told  him  what  we  were  about.  "  Ah,  madam  !"  cried 
he,  "  Goldsmith  was  not  scrupulous ;  but  he  would  have  been  a  great 
man  had  he  known  the  real  value  of  his  own  internal  resources." ' 
Mme.  D'Arblays  Diary,  i.  83.     Se.e  post,  beginning  of  1768. 

'  It  is  possible  that  Mrs.  Hardcastle's  drive  in  She  Stoops  to  Conquer 
was  suggested  by  The  Rambler,  No.  34.  In  it  a  young  gentleman  de- 
scribes a  lady's  terror  on  a  coach  journey.  '  Our  whole  conversation 
passed  in  dangers,  and  cares,  and  fears,  and  consolations,  and  stories 
of  ladies  dragged  in  the  mire,  forced  to  spend  all  the  night  on  a  heath, 
drowned  in  rivers,  or  burnt  with  lightning  .  .  .  We  had  now  a  new 
scene  of  terror,  every  man  we  saw  was  a  robber,  and  we  were  ordered 
sometimes  to  drive  hard,  lest  a  traveller  whom  we  saw  behind  should 
overtake  us ;  and  sometimes  to  stop,  lest  we  should  come  up  to  him 

To 


248  The  Beauties  of  Dr.  Johnson,     [a.d.  1750, 

To  point  out  the  nuxnerous  subjects  which  The  Rambler 
treats,  with  a  dignity  and  perspicuity  which  are  there  united 
in  a  manner  which  we  shall  in  vain  look  for  any  where  else, 
would  take  up  too  large  a  portion  of  my  book,  and  would,  I 
trust,  be  superfluous,  considering  how  universally  those  vol- 
umes are  now  disseminated.  Even  the  most  condensed  and 
brilliant  sentences  which  they  contain,  and  which  have  very 
properly  been  selected  under  the  name  of  Beauties^,  are  of 
considerable  bulk.  But  I  may  shortly  observe,  that  Tlic 
Rambler  furnishes  such  an  assemblage  of  discourses  on  prac- 
tical religion  and  moral  duty,  of  critical  investigations,  and 
allegorical  and  oriental  tales,  that  no  mind  can  be  thought 
very  deficient  that  has,  by  constant  study  and  meditation,  as- 
similated to  itself  all  that  may  be  found  there.  No.  7,  written 
in  Passion-week  on  abstraction  and  self-examination\  and 
No.  no,  on  penitence  and  the  placability  of  the  Divine  Nat- 
ure, cannot  be  too  often  read.  No.  54,  on  the  effect  which 
the  death  of  a  friend  should  have  upon  us,  though  rather  too 
dispiriting,  may  be  occasionally  very  medicinal  to  the  mind. 
Every  one  must  suppose  the  writer  to  have  been  deeply  im- 
pressed by  a  real  scene  ;  but  he  told  me  that  was  not  the 
case;  which  shews  how  well  his  fancy  could  conduct  him 

who  was  passing  before  us.     She  alarmed  many  an  honest  man  by- 
begging  him  to  spare  her  life  as  he  passed  by  the  coach.' 

'  Dr.  Johnson  was  gratified  by  seeing  this  selection,  and  wrote  to 
Mr.  Kearsley,  bookseller  in  Fleet-Street,  the  following  note  :— 

'  Mr.  Johnson  sends  compliments  to  Mr.  Kearsley,  and  begs  the 
favour  of  seeing  him  as  soon  as  he  can.  Mr.  Kearsley  is  desired  to 
bring  with  him  the  last  edition  of  what  he  has  honoured  with  the 
name  of  Beauties.  May  20,  1782.'  Boswell.  The  correspondence, 
post.  May  15,  1782,  shews  that  Johnson  sent  for  this  book,  not  because 
he  was  gratified,  but  because  he  was  accused,  on  the  strength  of  one 
of  the  Beauties,  of  recommending  suicide.  On  that  day,  being  in  the 
country,  he  wrote :  '  I  never  saw  the  book  but  by  casual  inspection, 
and  considered  myself  as  utterly  disengaged  from  its  consequences.' 
He  adds: — '  I  hope  some  time  in  the  next  week  to  have  all  rectified.' 
The  letter  of  May  20  shews  that  on  his  return  to  town  he  lost  little 
t^me,  if  any,  in  sending  for  Kearsley. 

"  See  i>ost,  April  12,  178 1. 

to 


Aetat.  41.]  ^  More  bark  and  steel  for  the  mind.'         249 

to  the  'house  of  mourning'.'  Some  of  these  more  solemn 
papers,  I  doubt  not,  particularly  attracted  the  notice  of  Dr. 
Young,  the  authour  of  T/ic  Night  TJioughts,  of  whom  my 
estimation  is  such,  as  to  reckon  his  applause  an  honour  even 
to  Johnson.  I  have  seen  some  volumes  of  Dr.  Young's  copy 
of  The  Rambler,  in  which  he  has  marked  the  passages  which 
he  thought  particularly  excellent  by  folding  down  a  corner 
of  the  page;  and  such  as  he  rated  in  a  super-eminent  de- 
gree, are  marked  by  double  folds.  I  am  sorry  that  some  of 
the  volumes  are  lost.  Johnson  was  pleased  when  told  of  the 
minute  attention  with  which  Young  had  signified  his  appro- 
bation of  his  Essays. 

I  will  venture  to  say,  that  in  no  writings  whatever  can  be 
found  more  bark  and  steel  for  the  mind,  if  I  may  use  the  ex- 
pression ;  more  that  can  brace  and  invigorate  every  manly 
and  noble  sentiment.  No.  32  on  patience,  even  under  ex- 
treme misery,  is  wonderfully  lofty,  and  as  much  above  the 
rant  of  stoicism,  as  the  Sun  of  Revelation  is  brighter  than 
the  twilight  of  Pagan  philosophy.  I  never  read  the  follow- 
ing sentence  without  feeling  my  frame  thrill :  '  I  think  there 
is  some  reason  for  questioning  whether  the  body  and  mind 
are  not  so  proportioned,  that  the  one  can  bear  all  which  can 
be  inflicted  on  the  other  ;  whether  virtue  cannot  stand  its 
ground  as  long  as  life,  and  whether  a  soul  well  principled,  will 
not  be  sooner  separated  than  subdued\' 

Though  instruction  be  the  predominant  purpose  of  The 
Rambler,  yet  it  is  enlivened  with  a  considerable  portion  of 
amusement.  Nothing  can  be  more  erroneous  than  the  no- 
tion which  some  persons  have  entertained,  that  Johnson  was 
then  a  retired  authour,  ignorant  of  the  world  ;  and,  of  con- 
sequence, that  he  wrote  only  from  his  imagination  when 
he  described  characters  and  manners.     He  said  to  me,  that 

'  Ecclesiastes  vii.  4. 

*  In  the  original  '  separated  sooner  than  subdued.'  Johnson  acted 
up  to  what  he  said.  When  he  was  close  on  his  end,  '  all  who  saw  him 
beheld  and  acknowledged  the  invictum  animufn  Catonis  .  .  .  Talking 
of  his  illness  he  said  : — "  I  will  be  conquered ;  1  will  not  capitulate." ' 
See/w/,  Oct.  1784. 

before 


250  A  Club  m  Essex.  [a.d.  1750. 

before  he  wrote  that  work,  he  had  been  '  running  about  the 
world,'  as  he  expressed  it,  more  than  almost  any  body ;  and 
I  have  heard  him  relate,  with  much  satisfaction,  that  several 
of  the  characters  in  The  Rambler  were  drawn  so  naturally, 
that  when  it  first  circulated  in  numbers,  a  club  in  one  of  the 
towns  in  Essex  imagined  themselves  to  be  severally  exhibited 
in  it,  and  were  much  incensed  against  a  person  who,  they 
suspected,  had  thus  made  them  objects  of  publick  notice ; 
nor  were  they  quieted  till  authentick  assurance  was  given 
them,  that  The  Rambler  was  written  by  a  person  who  had 
never  heard  of  any  one  of  them'.  Some  of  the  characters 
are  believed  to  have  been  actually  drawn  from  the  life,  par- 
ticularly that  of  Prospero  from  Garrick',  who  never  entirely 


*  In  the  Spectator,  No.  568,  Addison  tells  of  a  village  in  which  '  there 
arose  a  current  report  that  somebody  had  written  a  book  against  the 
'squire  and  the  whole  parish.'  The  book  was  The  Whole  Duty  of 
Man. 

•  '  The  character  of  Prospero  was,  beyond  all  question,  occasioned 
by  Garrick's  ostentatious  display  of  furniture  and  Dresden  china.' 
Murphy's  Johnson,  p.  144.  If  Garrick  was  aimed  at,  it  is  surprising 
that  the  severity  of  the  satire  did  not  bring  to  an  end,  not  only  all 
friendship,  but  even  any  acquaintance  between  the  two  men.  The 
writer  describes  how  he  and  Prospero  had  set  out  in  the  world  to- 
gether, and  how  for  a  long  time  they  had  assisted  each  other,  till  his 
friend  had  been  lately  raised  to  wealth  by  a  lucky  project.  '  I  felt  at 
his  sudden  shoot  of  success  an  honest  and  disinterested  joy.'  Pros- 
pero reproached  him  with  his  neglect  to  visit  him  at  his  new  house. 
When  however  he  went  to  see  him,  he  found  that  his  friend's  impa- 
tience '  arose  not  from  any  desire  to  communicate  his  happiness,  but 
to  enjoy  his  superiority.'  He  was  kept  waiting  at  the  door,  and  when 
at  length  he  was  shewn  up  stairs,  he  found  the  staircase  carefully 
secured  by  mats  from  the  pollution  of  his  feet.  Prospero  led  him  into 
a  back  room,  where  he  told  him  he  always  breakfasted  when  he  had 
not  great  company.  After  the  visitor  had  endured  one  act  of  inso- 
lence after  another,  he  says : — '  I  left  him  without  any  intention  of 
seeing  him  again,  unless  some  misfortune  should  restore  his  under- 
standing.' Rambler,  No.  200.  See  post,  May  15,  1776,  where  Johnson, 
speaking  of  the  charge  of  meanness  brought  against  Garrick,  said, '  he 
might  have  been  much  better  attacked  for  living  with  more  splendour 
than  is  suitable  to  a  player.' 

forgave 


Aetat.  41.]  The  character  of  Prospero.  251 

forgave  its  pointed  satire'.  For  instances  of  fertility  of  fancy, 
and  accurate  description  of  real  life,  I  appeal  to  No.  19,  a 
man  who  wanders  from  one  profession  to  another,  with  most 
plausible  reasons  for  ever>'  change.  No.  34,  female  fastidious- 
ness and  timorous  refinement.  No.  82,  a  Virtuoso  who  has 
collected  curiosities.  No.  88\  petty  modes  of  entertaining  a 
company,  and  conciliating  kindness.  No.  182,  fortune-hunt- 
ing. No.  194-195,  a  tutor's  account  of  the  follies  of  his  pupil. 
No.  197-198,  legacy-hunting.  He  has  given  a  specimen  of 
his  nice  observation  of  the  mere  external  appearances  of  life, 
in  the  following  passage  in  No.  179,  against  affectation,  that 
frequent  and  most  disgusting  quality:  'He  that  stands  to 
contemplate  the  crouds  that  fill  the  streets  of  a  populous 
city,  will  see  many  passengers  whose  air  and  motion  it  will 
be  diflRcult  to  behold  without  contempt  and  laughter;  but  if 
he  examine  what  are  the  appearances  that  thus  powerfully 
excite  his  risibility,  he  will  find  among  them  neither  poverty 
nor  disease,  nor  any  involuntary  or  painful  defect.  The  dis- 
position to  derision  and  insult,  is  awakened  by  the  softness 
of  foppery,  the  swell  of  insolence,  the  liveliness  of  levity,  or 


'  In  C.  C.  Greville's  Journal  (n.  316)  we  have  an  instance  how  stories 
about  Johnson  grew.  He  writes  : — '  Lord  Holland  told  some  stories 
of  Johnson  and  Garrick  which  he  had  heard  from  Kemble  .  .  .  When 
Garrick  was  in  the  zenith  of  his  popularity,  and  grown  rich,  and  lived 
with  the  great,  and  while  Johnson  was  yet  obscure,  the  Doctor  used 
to  drink  tea  with  him,  and  he  would  say,  "  Davy,  I  do  not  envy  you 
your  money  nor  your  fine  acquaintance,  but  I  envy  you  your  power  of 
drinking  such  tea  as  this."  "  Yes,"  said  Garrick,  "  it  is  very  good  tea, 
but  it  is  not  my  best,  nor  that  which  I  give  to  my  Lord  this  and  Sir 
somebody  t'other."  '  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  whole  story 
is  founded  on  the  following  passage  in  the  character  of  Prospero : 
'  Breakfast  was  at  last  set,  and,  as  I  was  not  willing  to  indulge  the 
peevishness  that  began  to  seize  me,  I  commended  the  tea.  Prospero 
then  told  me  that  another  time  I  should  taste  his  finest  sort,  but  that 
he  had  only  a  very  small  quantity  remaining,  and  reserved  it  for  those 
whom  he  thought  himself  obliged  to  treat  with  particular  respect.' 
See  posi,  April  10,  1778,  where  Johnson  maintained  that  Garrick  bore 
his  good-fortune  with  modesty. 

'  No.  98. 

the 


252  The  style  of  The  Rambler.         [a.d.  1750. 

the  solemnity  of  grandeur ;  by  the  sprightly  trip,  the  stately 
stalk,  the  formal  strut,  and  the  lofty  mien  ;  by  gestures  in- 
tended to  catch  the  eye,  and  by  looks  elaborately  formed  as 
evidences  of  importance.' 

Every  page  of  The  Rambler  shews  a  mind  teeming  with 
classical  allusion  and  poetical  imagery :  illustrations  from 
other  writers  are,  upon  all  occasions,  so  ready,  and  mingle  so 
easily  in  his  periods,  that  the  whole  appears  of  one  uniform 
vivid  texture. 

The  style  of  this  work  has  been  censured  by  some  shallow 
criticks  as  involved  and  turgid,  and  abounding  with  anti- 
quated and  hard  words.  So  ill-founded  is  the  first  part  of 
this  objection,  that  I  will  challenge  all  who  may  honour  this 
book  with  a  perusal,  to  point  out  any  English  writer  whose 
language  conveys  his  meaning  with  equal  force  and  perspi- 
cuity. It  must,  indeed,  be  allowed,  that  the  structure  of  his 
sentences  is  expanded,  and  often  has  somewhat  of  the  inver- 
sion of  Latin ;  and  that  he  delighted  to  express  familiar 
thoughts  in  philosophical  language ;  being  in  this  the  reverse 
of  Socrates,  who,  it  was  said,  reduced  philosophy  to  the  sim- 
plicity of  common  life.  But  let  us  attend  to  what  he  himself 
says  in  his  concluding  paper :  '  When  common  words  were 
less  pleasing  to  the  ear,  or  less  distinct  in  their  signification,  I 
have  familiarised  the  terms  of  philosophy,  by  applying  them 
to  popular  ideas'.'  And,  as  to  the  second  part  of  this  objec- 
tion, upon  a  late  careful  revision  of  the  work,  I  can  with 
confidence  say,  that  it  is  amazing  how  few  of  those  words, 
for  which  it  has  been  unjustly  characterised,  are  actually  to 
be  found  in  it ;  I  am  sure,  not  the  proportion  of  one  to  each 
paper.  This  idle  charge  has  been  echoed  from  one  babbler 
to  another,  who  have  confounded   Johnson's   Essays  with 

*  Yet  his  style  did  not  escape  the  harmless  shafts  of  pleasant  hu- 
mour; for  the  ingenious  Bonnell  Thornton  published  a  mock  Ram- 
bler in  the  Drury-lane  Journal.  Boswell.  Murphy  (Lzfe.-p.  157), 
criticising  the  above  quotation  from  Johnson,  says: — 'He  forgot  the 
observation  of  Dryden  :  "  If  too  many  foreign  words  are  poured  in 
upon  us,  it  looks  as  if  they  were  designed,  not  to  assist  the  natives, 
but  to  conquer  them."  ' 

Johnson's 


Aetat. 41.]  Johnsons  masters  in  style.  253 

Johnson's  Dictionary ;  and  because  he  thought  it  right  in  a 
Lexicon  of  our  language  to  collect  many  words  which  had 
fallen  into  disuse,  but  were  supported  by  great  authorities, 
it  has  been  imagined  that  all  of  these  have  been  interwoven 
into  his  own  compositions.  That  some  of  them  have  been 
adopted  by  him  unnecessarily,  may,  perhaps,  be  allowed  ; 
but,  in  general  they  are  evidently  an  advantage,  for  with- 
out them  his  stately  ideas  would  be  confined  and  cramped. 
'  He  that  thinks  with  more  extent  than  another,  will  want 
words  of  larger  meaning'.'  He  once  told  me,  that  he  had 
formed  his  style  upon  that  of  Sir  William  Temple^  and  upon 
Chambers's  Proposal  for  his  Dictionary^.     He  certainly  was 

'  Idter,  No.  70.  Boswell.  In  the  same  number  Johnson  writes : — 
'  Few  faults  of  style,  whether  real  or  imaginary,  excite  the  malignity 
of  a  more  numerous  class  of  readers  than  the  use  of  hard  words  .  .  . 
But  words  are  hard  only  to  those  who  do  not  understand  them  ;  and 
the  critic  ought  always  to  inquire,  whether  he  is  incommoded  by  the 
fault  of  the  writer  or  by  his  own.  Every  author  does  not  write  for 
every  reader.'  See  posi,  Sept.  19,  1777,  where  Johnson  says:  —  'If 
Robertson's  style  be  faulty  he  owes  it  to  me  ;  that  is,  having  too  many 
words,  and  those  too  big  ones.' 

*  The  following  passages  in  Temple's  writings  shew  that  a  likeness 
may  be  discovered  between  his  style  and  Johnson's  : — '  There  may  be 
firmness  and  constancy  of  courage  from  tradition  as  well  as  of  belief: 
nor,  methinks,  should  any  man  know  how  to  be  a  coward,  that  is 
brought  up  with  the  opinion,  that  all  of  his  nation  or  city  have  ever 
been  valiant.'  Temple's  IVoris,  \.  167.  'This  is  a  disease  too  refined 
for  this  country  and  people,  who  are  well,  when  they  are  not  ill,  and 
pleased,  when  they  are  not  troubled  ;  are  content,  because  they  think 
little  of  it ;  and  seek  their  happiness  in  the  common  eases  and  com- 
modities of  life,  or  the  increase  of  riches ;  not  amusing  themselves 
with  the  more  speculative  contrivances  of  passion,  or  refinements  oi 
pleasure.'  /b.  p.  170.  '  They  send  abroad  the  best  of  their  own  butter 
into  all  parts,  and  buy  the  cheapest  out  of  Ireland,  or  the  north  of 
England,  for  their  own  use.  In  short  they  furnish  infinite  luxury 
which  they  never  practise,  and  traffic  in  pleasures  which  they  never 
taste.'  lb.  p.  195.  See  post,  April  9,  1778,  where  Johnson  says: — 
'  Temple  was  the  first  writer  who  gave  cadence  to  English  prose.' 

'  Dean  Stanley  calls  Ephraim  Chambers  '  the  Father  of  Cyclopae- 
dias.' Memorials  of  Westminster  Abbey,  p.  299,  note.  The  epitaph 
which  Chambers  wrote  for  himself  the  Dean  gives  as  : — '  Multis  per- 

mistaken  ; 


254  -^  Great  Personage.  [a.d.  1750. 

mistaken ;  or  if  he  imagined  at  first  that  he  was  imitating 
Temple  he  was  very  unsuccessful ;  for  nothing  can  be  more 
unlike  than  the  simplicity  of  Temple,  and  the  richness  of 
Johnson.  Their  styles  differ  as  plain  cloth  and  brocade. 
Temple,  indeed,  seems  equally  erroneous  in  supposing  that 
he  himself  had  formed  his  style  upon  Sandys's  View  of  the 
State  of  Religion  in  the  Western  parts  of  the  World. 

The  style  of  Johnson  was,  undoubtedly,  much  formed  upon 
that  of  the  great  writers  in  the  last  century,  Hooker,  Bacon, 
Sanderson,  Hakewell,  and  others;  those  '  GlANTS','  as  they 
were  well  characterised   by  A  GREAT   PERSONAGE',  whose 

vulgatus,  paucis  notus,  qui  vitam  inter  lucem  et  umbram,  nee  eruditus 
nee  idioticis  Uteris  deditus,  transegit.'  In  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  1740,  p. 
262,  the  last  line  is  given,  no  doubt  correctly,  as : — '  Nee  eruditus  nee 
idiota,  literis  deditus.'  The  second  edition  of  Chambers's  Cyclopadia 
was  published  in  1738.  There  is  no  copy  of  his  Proposal  in  the  Brit- 
ish Museum  or  Bodleian.  The  resemblance  between  his  style  and 
Johnson's  is  not  great.  The  following  passage  is  the  most  Johnsonian 
that  I  could  find  : — *  None  of  my  predecessors  can  blame  me  for  the 
use  I  have  made  of  them ;  since  it  is  their  own  avowed  practice.  It 
is  a  kind  of  privilege  attached  to  the  office  of  lexicographer ;  if  not  by 
any  formal  grant,  yet  by  connivance  at  least.  I  have  already  assumed 
the  bee  for  my  device,  and  who  ever  brought  an  action  of  trover  or 
trespass  against  that  avowed  free-booter  }  'Tis  vain  to  pretend  any- 
thing of  property  in  things  of  this  nature.  To  ofTer  our  thoughts  to 
the  public,  and  yet  pretend  a  right  reserved  therein  to  oneself,  if  it  be 
not  absurd,  yet  it  is  sordid.  The  words  we  speak,  nay  the  breath  we 
emit,  is  not  more  vague  and  common  than  our  thoughts,  when  di- 
vulged in  print.'     Chambers's  Preface,  p.  xxiii. 

'  '  There  were  giants  in  the  earth  in  those  days.'     Gen.  vi.  4. 

»  A  GREAT  Personage  first  appears  in  the  second  edition.  In  the 
first  edition  we  merely  find  '  by  one  whose  authority,'  &c.  Boswell 
in  his  Hebrides,  Aug.  28.  1773,  speaks  of  George  III.  as  'a  Great  Per- 
sonage.' In  his  Letter  to  the  People  of  Scotland  (p.  90)  he  thus  intro- 
duces an  anecdote  about  the  King  and  Paoli : — '  I  have  one  other 
circumstance  to  communicate  ;  but  it  is  of  the  highest  value.  I  com- 
municate it  with  a  mixture  of  awe  and  fondness. — That  Great  Person- 
age, who  IS  allowed  by  all  to  have  the  best  memory  of  any  man  born  a 
Briton,'  &c.  In  the  Probationary  Odes  for  the  Laureateship,  published 
a  few  months  after  Boswell's  Letter,  a  '  Great  Personage  '  is  ludicrously 
introduced  ;  pp.  xxx.  63. 

authority. 


Aetat.4i.j        The  motto  to  the  Dictionary.  255 


authority,  were  I  to  name  him,  would  stamp  a  reverence  on 
the  opinion. 

We  may,  with  the  utmost  propriety,  apply  to  his  learned 
style  that  passage  of  Horace,  a  part  of  which  he  has  taken 
as  the  motto  to  his  Dictionary'' : 

'  Cum  tabutis  animuni  censoris  sumet  honesti ; 
Audebit  qucecumque  parum  splendoris  habfbunt 
Et  sine  pondere  erunt,  d  honore  indigna  ferentur, 
Verba  mover e  loco,  quamvis  invita  recedant, 
Et  versentur  adhuc  intra  penetralia    Vestce. 
Obscurata  dtu  populo  bonus  eruet,  atque 
Proferet  in  lucent  speciosa  vocabula  rerum, 
Quce  priscis  memorata   Catonibus  atque  Cethegis, 
Nunc  situs  informis  premit  et  deserta  vetustas  : 
Adsciscet  nova,  qua;  genitor  produxerit  usus  : 
Vehemens,  et  liquidus,  puroque  simillimus  amni, 
Fundet  opes  Latiumque  beabit  divite  lingua'*.' 

To  so  great  a  master  of  thinking,  to  one  of  such  vast  and 
rarious  knowledge  as  Johnson,  might  have  been  allowed  a 

•  The  first  nine  lines  form  the  motto. 

-  Herat.  Epist.  Lib.  ii.  Epist.  ii.  [I.  1 10].     Boswell. 
'  But  how  severely  with  themselves  proceed 
The  men,  who  write  such  verse  as  we  can  read ! 
Their  own  strict  judges,  not  a  word  they  spare 
That  wants  or  force,  or  hght,  or  weight,  or  care, 
Howe'er  unwillingly  it  quits  its  place. 
Nay,  though  at  court,  perhaps,  it  may  find  grace : 
Such  they'll  degrade ;  and  sometimes,  in  its  stead. 
In  downright  charity  revive  the  dead  ; 
Mark  where  a  bold  expressive  phrase  appears. 
Bright  through  the  rubbish  of  some  hundred  years ; 
Command  old  words  that  long  have  slept  to  wake. 
Words  that  wise  Bacon  or  brave  Rawleigh  spake ; 
Or  bid  the  new  be  English,  ages  hence, 
(For  use  will  father  what's  begot  by  sense ;) 
Pour  the  full  tide  of  eloquence  along, 
Serenely  pure,  and  yet  divinely  strong. 
Rich  with  the  treasures  of  each  foreign  tongTje." 

Pope.  IviitatioJis  of  Horace,  ii.  2.  157. 

liberal 


25^  yohnson  7iot  a  coiner  of  words.      [a. d.  1750. 

liberal  indulgence  of  that  licence  which   Horace  claims  in 
another  place : 

' Si  forte  necesse  est 

Indiciis  monstrare  recentibus  abdita  rerum, 
Fingere  cinctiitis  noti  exaudita  Cethegis 
Continget,  dabiturque  licentia  sumpta  pudenter : 
Et  nova  fictaque  nuper  habebunt  verba  fidem  si 
Greece  fonte  cadant,  parce  detorta.      Quid  autem 
CcBcilio  Plaittoque  dabit  Romanus,  ademptum 
Virgilio   Varioque  ?     Ego  cur,  acquirere  pauca 
Si  possum,  invideor ;  cum  lingua  Catonis  et  Enni 
Sermonem  patrium  ditaverit,  et  nova  rerum 
Nomina  protulerit  ?  Licuit  semperque  licebit 
Signatum  prcesente  notd  producere  nomen\' 

Yet  Johnson  assured  me,  that  he  had  not  taken  upon  him 
to  add  more  than  four  or  five  words  to  the  English  language, 
of  his  own  formation' ;  and  he  was  very  much  offended  at 
the  general  licence,  by  no  means  '  modestly  taken  '  in  his 
time,  not  only  to  coin  new  words,  but  to  use  many  words 
in  senses  quite  different  from  their  established  meaning, 
and  those  frequently  very  fantastical. 

Sir    Thomas    Brown*,    whose    life    Johnson    wrote,    was 

'  Horat.  De  Arte  Poettca.  [1.  48.]     BOSWELL. 

'  See  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Aug.  29,  1773,  where  Boswell  says  that  up 
to  that  date  he  had  twice  heard  Johnson  coin  words, per egrinity  and 
depeditation. 

^  '  The  words  which  our  authors  have  introduced  by  their  knowl- 
edge of  foreign  languages,  or  ignorance  of  their  own,  by  vanity  or 
wantonness,  by  compliance  with  fashion  or  lust  of  innovation,  I  have 
registered  as  they  occurred,  though  commonly  only  to  censure  them, 
and  warn  others  against  the  folly  of  naturalizing  useless  foreigners  to 
the  injury  of  the  natives.  .  .  .  Our  language  for  almost  a  century  has, 
by  the  concurrence  of  many  causes,  been  gradually  departing  from  its 
original  Teutonick  character,  and  deviating  towards  a  Gallick  struct- 
ure and  phraseology,  from  which  it  ought  to  be  our  endeavour  to 
recall  it,  by  making  our  ancient  volumes  the  groundwork  of  style.  .  .  . 
From  the  authors  which  rose  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth  a  speech  might 
be  formed  adequate  to  all  the  purposes  of  use  and  elegance.'  John- 
son's Works,  V.  pp.  31,  39.     See.  post.  May  12,  1778. 

*  If  Johnson  sometimes  indulged  his  Brownism  (s^^  post,  beginning 

remarkablv 


Aetat.  41.]  yoh^ison  s  injluence  on  style.  257 

remarkably  fond  of  Anglo-Latian  diction  ;  and  to  his  exam- 
ple we  are  to  ascribe  Johnson's  sometimes  indulging  himself 
in  this  kind  of  phraseology'.  Johnson's  comprehension  of 
mind  was  the  mould  for  his  language.  Had  his  conceptions 
been  narrower,  his  expression  would  have  been  easier.  His 
sentences  have  a  dignified  march  ;  and,  it  is  certain,  that  his 
example  has  given  a  general  elevation  to  the  language  of  his 
country,  for  many  of  our  best  writers  have  approached  very 
near  to  him  ;  and,  from  the  influence  which  he  has  had  upon 
our  composition,  scarcely  any  thing  is  written  now  that  is 
not  better  expressed  than  was  usual  before  he  appeared  to 
lead  the  national  taste. 

This  circumstance,  the  truth  of  which  must  strike  every 
critical  reader,  has  been  so  happily  enforced  by  Mr.  Court- 
enay,  in  his  Moral  and  Literary  Character  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
that  I  cannot  prevail  on  myself  to  withhold  it,  notwith- 
standing his,  perhaps,  too  great  partiality  for  one  of  his 
friends : 


of  1756),  yet  he  saw  much  to  censure  in  Browne's  style.  *  His  style 
is,  indeed,  a  tissue  of  many  languages ;  a  mixture  of  heterogeneous 
words,  brought  together  from  distant  regions,  with  terms  originally 
appropriated  to  one  art,  and  drawn  by  violence  into  the  service  of 
another.  He  must  however  be  confessed  to  have  augmented  our 
philosophical  diction.  ...  His  innovations  are  sometimes  pleasing, 
and  his  temerities  happy.'  Johnson's  Works,  vi.  500.  '  It  is  remark- 
able that  the  pomp  of  diction,  which  has  been  objected  to  Johnson, 
was  first  assumed  in  the  Rambler.  His  Dictionary  was  going  on  at 
the  same  time,  and  in  the  course  of  that  work,  as  he  grew  familiar 
with  technical  and  scholastic  words,  he  thought  that  the  bulk  of  his 
readers  were  equally  learned  ;  or  at  least  would  admire  the  splendour 
and  dignity  of  the  style.'     Murphy's  Johnson,  p.  156. 

'  The  observation  of  his  having  imitated  Sir  Thomas  Brown  has 
been  made  by  many  people ;  and  lately  it  has  been  insisted  on,  and 
illustrated  by  a  variety  of  quotations  from  Brown,  in  one  of  the  popu- 
lar Essays  written  by  the  Reverend  Mr.  Knox  [the  Essay  is  No.  xxii. 
of  Winter  Evenings,  Knox's  Works,  ii.  397],  master  of  Tunbridge 
school,  whom  I  have  set  down  in  my  list  {post,  under  Dec.  6,  1784]  of 
those  who  have  sometimes  not  unsuccessfully  imitated  Dr.  Johnson's 
style.    BoswELL. 

I.-17  By 


258,       Courtenay s  lines  on  yohnsons  school,  [ad.  1750. 

'  By  nature's  gifts  ordain'd  mankind  to  rule, 
He,  like  a  Titian,  form'd  his  brilliant  school ; 
And  taught  congenial  spirits  to  excel. 
While  from  his  lips  impressive  wisdom  fell. 
Our  boasted  Goldsmith  felt  the  sovereign  sway ; 
From  him  deriv'd  the  sweet,  yet  nervous  lay. 
To  Fame's  proud  clifiF  he  bade  our  Raphael  rise ; 
Hence  Reynolds'  pen  with  Reynolds'  pencil  vies. 
With  Johnson's  flame  melodious  Burney  glows, 
While  the  grand  strain  in  smoother  cadence  flows. 
And  you,  Malone,  to  critick  learning  dear, 
Correct  and  elegant,  refin'd  though  clear. 
By  studying  him,  acquir'd  that  classick  taste. 
Which  high  in  Shakspeare's  fane  thy  statue  plac'd. 
Near  Johnson  Steevens  stands,  on  scenick  ground, 
Acute,  laborious,  fertile,  and  profound. 
Ingenious  Hawkesworth  to  this  school  we  owe, 
And  scarce  the  pupil  from  the  tutor  know. 
Here  early  parts  accomplish'd  Jones  sublimes, 
And  science  blends  with  Asia's  lofty  rhymes  : 
Harmonious  Jones  !  who  in  his  splendid  strains 
Sings  Camdeo's  sports,  on  Agra's  flowery  plains : 
In  Hindu  fictions  while  we  fondly  trace 
Love  and  the  Muses,  deck'd  with  Attick  grace. 
Amid  these  names  can  Boswell  be  forgot. 
Scarce  by  North  Britons  now  esteem 'd  a  Scot'  ? 
Who  to  the  sage  devoted  from  his  youth, 
Imbib'd  from  him  the  sacred  love  of  truth  ; 


*  The  following  observation  in  Mr.  Boswell's  Journal  of  a  Tour  to 
the  Hebrides  [p.  9]  may  sufficiently  account  for  that  Gentleman's  being 
'  now  scarcely  esteem'd  a  Scot '  by  many  of  his  countrymen  : — '  If  he 
[Dr.  Johnson]  was  particularly  prejudiced  against  the  Scots,  it  was 
because  they  were  more  in  his  way ;  because  he  thought  their  success 
in  England  rather  exceeded  the  due  proportion  of  their  real  merit ; 
and  because  he  could  not  but  see  in  them  that  nationality  which,  I 
believe,  no  liberal-minded  Scotchman  will  deny.'  Mr.  Boswell,  indeed, 
is  so  free  from  national  prejudices,  that  he  might  with  equal  propriety 
have  been  described  as — 

■  Scarce  by  South  Britons  now  esteem'd  a  Scot.' 

Courtenay.    Boswell. 
The 


Aetat.4i.]    The  styUs  of  Addis 071  and  yoknson.         259 

The  keen  research,  the  exercise  of  mind, 

And  that  best  art,  the  art  to  know  mankind. — 

Nor  was  his  energy  confin'd  alone 

To  friends  around  his  philosophick  throne ; 

/is  infiumce  wide  improved  our  letter  d  isle, 

And  lucid  vigour  marked  the  general  style: 

As  Nile's  proud  waves,  swoln  from  their  oozy  bed, 

First  o'er  the  neighbouring  meads  majestick  spread ; 

Till  gathering  force,  they  more  and  more  expand, 

And  with  new  virtue  fertilise  the  land.' 

Johnson's  language,  however,  must  be  allowed  to  be  too 
masculine  for  the  delicate  gentleness  of  female  writing.  His 
ladies,  therefore,  seem  strangely  formal,  even  to  ridicule ; 
and  are  well  denominated  by  the  names  which  he  has  given 
them,  as  Misella',  Zozima,  Properantia,  Rhodoclia. 

It  has  of  late  been  the  fashion  to  compare  the  style  of 
Addison  and  Johnson,  and  to  depreciate,  I  think  very  unjust- 
ly, the  style  of  Addison  as  nerveless  and  feeble',  because  it 
has  not  the  strength  and  energy  of  that  of  Johnson.  Their 
prose  may  be  balanced  like  the  poetry  of  Dryden  and  Pope. 

'  Malone  says  that  '  Baretti  used  sometimes  to  walk  with  Johnson 
through  the  streets  at  night,  and  occasionally  entered  into  conversa- 
tion with  the  unfortunate  women  who  frequent  them,  for  the  sake  of 
hearing  their  stories.  It  was  from  a  history  of  one  of  these,  which  a 
girl  told  under  a  tree  in  the  King's  Bench  Walk  in  the  Temple  to 
Baretti  and  Johnson,  that  he  formed  the  story  of  Misella  in  the  /^am- 
bler [Nos.  170  and  171].'  Prior's  Malone,  p.  i6i.  'Of  one  [of  these 
women]  who  was  very  handsome  he  asked,  for  what  she  thought  God 
had  given  her  so  much  beauty.  She  answered  : — "  To  please  gentle- 
men." '     Hawkins's  y^^«j(7«,  p.  321.     See  also^o^A  under  Dec.  2,  1784. 

-  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  270)  had  said  that  '  the  characteristics  of  Addi- 
son's style  are  feebleness  and  inanity.'  He  was  thus  happily  ridiculed 
by  Porson  : — '  Soon  after  the  publication  of  Sir  John's  book,  a  parcel 
of  Eton  boys,  not  having  the  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes,  etc.,  instead 
of  playing  truant,  robbing  orchards,  annoying  poultry,  or  performing 
any  other  part  of  their  school  exercise,  fell  foul  in  print  (see  the 
Microcosm,  No.  36)  upon  his  Worship's  censure  of  Addison's  middling 
style.  .  .  .  But  what  can  you  expect,  as  Lord  Karnes  justly  observes, 
from  a  school  where  boys  are  taught  to  rob  on  the  highway  }'  Porson, 
Tracts,  p.  339. 

Both 


26o  The  styles  of  Addison  and  yohnson,  (a.d.  1750. 

Both  are  excellent,  though  in  different  ways.  Addison 
writes  with  the  ease  of  a  gentleman.  His  readers  fancy 
that  a  wise  and  accomplished  companion  is  talking  to  them; 
so  that  he  insinuates  his  sentiments  and  taste  into  their 
minds  by  an  imperceptible  influence.  Johnson  writes  like 
a  teacher.  He  dictates  to  his  readers  as  if  from  an  academ- 
ical chair.  They  attend  with  awe  and  admiration ;  and  his 
precepts  are  impressed  upon  them  by  his  commanding  elo- 
quence. Addison's  style,  like  a  light  wine,  pleases  every- 
body from  the  first.  Johnson's,  like  a  liquor  of  more  body, 
seems  too  strong  at  first,  but,  by  degrees,  is  highly  relished  ; 
and  such  is  the  melody  of  his  periods,  so  much  do  they 
captivate  the  ear,  and  seize  upon  the  attention,  that  there  is 
scarcely  any  writer,  however  inconsiderable,  who  does  not 
aim,  in  some  degree,  at  the  same  species  of  excellence.  But 
let  us  not  ungratefully  undervalue  that  beautiful  style,  which 
has  pleasingly  conveyed  to  us  much  instruction  and  enter- 
tainment. Though  comparatively  weak,  opposed  to  John- 
son's Herculean  vigour,  let  us  not  call  it  positively  feeble. 
Let  us  remember  the  character  of  his  style,  as  given  by 
Johnson  himself:  'What  he  attempted,  he  performed;  he 
is  yiever  feeble,  and  he  did  not  wish  to  be  energetick  ;  he  is 
never  rapid,  and  he  never  stagnates.  His  sentences  have 
neither  studied  amplitude,  nor  affected  brevity:  his  pe- 
riods, though  not  diligently  rounded,  are  voluble  and  easy*. 


'  Works,  vii.  473. 

*  When  Johnson  shewed  me  a  proof-sheet  of  the  character  of  Addi- 
son, in  which  he  so  highly  extols  his  style.  I  could  not  help  observing, 
that  it  had  not  been  his  own  model,  as  no  two  styles  could  differ  more 
from  each  other.  —  'Sir,  Addison  had  his  style,  and  I  have  mine.'  — 
When  I  ventured  to  ask  him,  whether  the  difference  did  not  consist 
in  this,  that  Addison's  style  was  full  of  idioms,  colloquial  phrases,  and 
proverbs ;  and  his  own  more  strictly  grammatical,  and  free  from  such 
phraseology  and  modes  of  speech  as  can  never  be  literally  translated 
or  understood  by  foreigners;  he  allowed  the  discrimination  to  be  just. 
— Let  any  one  who  doubts  it.  try  to  translate  one  of  Addison's  Spec- 
tators into  Latin.  French,  or  Italian  ;  and  though  so  easy,  familiar,  and 
elegant,  to  an  Englishman,  as  to  give  the  intellect  no  trouble ;  yet  he 

Whoever 


Aetat.4l.]  BoswelVs  projected  works.  261 

Whoever  wishes  to  attain  an  EngHsh  style,  familiar  but  not 
coarse,  and  elegant  but  not  ostentatious,  must  give  his  days 
and  nights  to  the  volumes  of  Addison'.' 

Though  The  Rambler  was  not  concluded  till  the  year 
1752,  I  shall,  under  this  year,  say  all  that  I  have  to  ob- 
serve upon  it.  Some  of  the  translations  of  the  mottos  by 
himself  are  admirably  done.  He  acknowledges  to  have 
received  '  elegant  translations '  of  many  of  them  from  Mr. 
James  Elphinston  ;  and  some  are  very  happily  translated  by 
a  Mr.  F.  Lewis',  of  whom  I  never  heard  more,  except  that 


would  find  the  transfusion  into  another  language  extremely  difficult, 
if  not  impossible.  But  a  Rambler,  Adventurer,  or  Idler ^  of  Johnson, 
would  fall  into  any  classical  or  European  language,  as  easily  as  if  it 
had  been  originally  conceived  in  it.  Burney.  Mrs.  Piozzi  {Anec. 
p.  125)  recounts  how  Johnson  recommended  Addison's  works  as  a 
model  for  imitation  to  Mr.  Woodhouse,  a  poetical  shoemaker.  '  "  Give 
nights  and  days,  Sir,  (said  he)  to  the  study  of  Addison,  if  you  mean 
either  to  be  a  good  writer,  or,  what  is  more  worth,  an  honest  man." 
When  I  saw  something  like  the  same  expression  in  his  criticism  on 
that  author,  I  put  him  in  mind  of  his  past  injunctions  to  the  young 
poet,  to  which  he  replied,  "  That  he  wished  the  shoemaker  might 
have  remembered  them  as  well."  '  Yet  he  says  in  his  Life  of  Pope 
(  Works,  viii.  284),  '  He  that  has  once  studiously  formed  a  style  rarely 
writes  afterwards  with  complete  ease.' 

'  I  shall  probably,  in  another  work,  maintain  the  merit  of  Addison's 
poetry,  which  has  been  very  unjustly  depreciated.  Boswell.  He 
proposed  also  to  publish  an  edition  of  Johnson's  poems  {ajite,  p.  19), 
an  account  of  his  own  travels  {post,  April  17,  1778),  a  collection,  with 
notes,  of  old  tenures  and  charters  of  Scotland  (post,  Oct.  27,  1779),  and 
a  History  of  James  IV.  of  Scotland,  'the  patron,"  as  he  said,  'of  my 
family  '  (Boswell's  Hebrides,  Aug.  23,  1773). 
'  Lewis  thus  happily  translates  the  lines  in  Martial, — 

'  Diligat  ilia  senem  quondam :  sed  et  ipsa  marito. 
Tunc  quoque  cum  fuerit,  non  videatur,  anus. 
'  Wrinkled  with  age,  may  mutual  love  and  truth 
To  their  dim  eyes  recall  the  bloom  of  youth.' 

Rambler,  No.  167. 
Some  of  Johnson's  own  translations  are  happy,  as  : — 

'  Quam  juvat  immites  ventos  audire  cubantem  — 
Aut,  gelidas  hibernus  aquas  quum  fuderit  auster, 
Securum  somnos,  imbre  juvante,  sequi ! 

Johnson 


262  The  last  Rambler.  [a.d.  1750. 

Johnson  thus  described  him  to  Mr.  Malone :  'Sir,  he  hved 
in  London,  and  hiung  loose  upon  society.'  The  concluding 
paper  of  his  Rambler  is  at  once  dignified  and  pathetick.  I 
cannot,  however,  but  wish  that  he  had  not  ended  it  with  an 
unnecessary  Greek  verse,  translated  also  into  an  English 
couplet'.  It  is  too  much  like  the  conceit  of  those  dramatick 
poets,  who  used  to  conclude  each  act  with  a  rhyme ;  and  the 
expression  in  the  first  line  of  his  couplet,  '  Celestial  powers^ 
though  proper  in  Pagan  poetry,  is  ill  suited  to  Christianity, 
with  '  a  conformity' '  to  which  he  consoles  himself.  How 
much  better  would  it  have  been,  to  have  ended  with  the 
prose  sentence  *  I  shall  never  envy  the  honours  which  wit 
and  learning  obtain  in  any  other  cause,  if  I  can  be  numbered 
among  the  writers  who  have  given  ardour  to  virtue,  and 
confidence  to  truth'.' 

His  friend,  Dr.  Birch,  being  now  engaged  in  preparing  an 
edition  of  Ralegh's  smaller  pieces,  Dr.  Johnson  wrote  the 
following  letter  to  that  gentleman  : 

'To  Dr.  Birch. 
<  c,„  '  Gough-square,  May  12.  1750. 

'  Knowing  that  you  are  now  preparing  to  favour  the  publick 

'How  sweet  in  sleep  to  pass  the  careless  hours, 
Lull'd  by  the  beating  winds  and  dashing  show'rs.' 

lb.  No.  117. 

KvTwv   iK   fiaKapoiv  dvrd^tos   (ir)   afiOi^rj. 

'  Celestial  powers  !  that  piety  regard, 
From  you  my  labours  wait  their  last  reward.' 
A  modification  of  the  Greek  line  is  engraved  on  the  scroll  in  John- 
son's monument  in  St.  Paul's  (pos/,  Dec.  1784). 

'  •  The  essays  professedly  serious,  if  I  have  been  able  to  execute  my 
own  intentions,  will  be  found  exactly  conformable  to  the  precepts  of 
Christianity.  ...  I  therefore  look  back  on  this  part  of  my  work  with 
pleasure,  which  no  blame  or  praise  of  man  shall  diminish  or  augment.' 
Rambler,  No.  208. 

'  I  have  little  doubt  that  this  attack  on  the  concluding  verse  is  an 
indirect  blow  at  Hawkins,  who  had  quoted  the  whole  passage,  and 
had  clearly  thought  it  the  more  'awful'  on  account  of  the  couplet. 
Sec  Hawkins's  Johnson,  p.  291. 

with 


Aetat.4i.]  Milton  s  grayid-daughter.  263 

with  a  new  edition  of  Ralegh's'  miscellaneous  pieces,  I  have  taken 
the  liberty  to  send  you  a  Manuscript,  which  fell  by  chance  within 
my  notice.  I  perceive  no  proofs  of  forgery  in  my  examination  of 
it ;  and  the  owner  tells  me,  that  he^  has  heard,  the  handwriting  is 
Sir  Walter's.  If  you  should  find  reason  to  conclude  it  genuine,  it 
will  be  a  kindness  to  the  owner,  a  blind  person^  to  recommend  it 
to  the  booksellers.     I  am,  Sir, 

'  Your  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

His  just  abhorrence  of  Milton's  political  notions  was  ever 
strong.  But  this  did  not  prevent  his  warm  admiration  of 
Milton's  great  poetical  merit,  to  which  he  has  done  illustrious 
justice,  beyond  all  who  have  written  upon  the  subject.  And 
this  year  he  not  only  wrote  a  Prologue,  which  was  spoken 
by  Mr.  Garrick  before  the  acting  of  Comus  at  Drury-lane 
theatre,  for  the  benefit  of  Milton's  grand-daughter,  but  took 
a  very  zealous  interest  in  the  success  of  the  charity'.  On 
the  day  preceding  the  performance,  he  published  the  follow- 
ing letter  in  the  General  Advertiser,  addressed  to  the  printer 
of  that  paper : 

'Sir, 

'That  a  certain  degree  of  reputation  is  acquired  merely  by 
approving  the  works  of  genius,  and  testifying  a  regard  to  the 

'  In  the  original  Raleigh's. 

*  The  italics  are  Boswell's. 

'  Mrs.  Williams  is  probably  the  person  meant.     Boswell. 

*  'In  1750,  April  5,  Comus  was  played  for  her  benefit.  She  had  s(? 
little  acquaintance  with  diversion  or  gaiety,  that  she  did  not  know 
what  was  intended  when  a  benefit  was  offered  her.  The  profits  of 
the  night  were  only  £\})0,  though  Dr.  Newton  brought  a  large  contri> 
bution ;  and  £10  were  given  by  Tonson,  a  man  who  is  to  be  praised 
as  often  as  he  is  named.  .  .  .  This  was  the  greatest  benefaction  that 
Paradise  Lost  ever  procured  the  author's  descendants ;  and  to  this 
he  who  has  now  attempted  to  relate  his  life  had  the  honour  of  con- 
tributing a  Prologue.'  Johnson's  Works,  \\\.  118.  In  the  Gent.  Mag. 
(XX.  152)  we  read  that,  as  on  '  April  4,  the  night  first  appointed,  many 
inconvenient  circumstances  happened  to  disappoint  the  hopes  of  suc- 
cess, the  managers  generously  quitted  the  profits  of  another  night,  in 
which  the  theatre  was  expected  to  be  fuller.  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson's 
prologue  was  afterwards  printed  for  Mrs,  Foster's  benefit.' 

memof}' 


266  Johnson  tricked  by  Lauder.          [a.d.  1761. 

This  extraordinary  attempt  of  Lauder  was  no  sudden 
effort.  He  had  brooded  over  it  for  many  years :  and  to 
this  hour  it  is  uncertain  what  his  principal  motive  was,  un- 
less it  were  a  vain  notion  of  his  superiority,  in  being  able, 
by  whatever  means,  to  deceive  mankind.  To  effect  this, 
he  produced  certain  passages  from  Grotius,  Masenius,  and 
others,  which  had  a  faint  resemblance  to  some  parts  of  the 
Paradise  Lost.  In  these  he  interpolated  some  fragments  of 
Hog's  Latin  translation  of  that  poem,  alledging  that  the 
mass  thus  fabricated  was  the  archetype  from  which  Milton 
copied'.  These  fabrications  he  published  from  time  to  time 
in  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine ;  and,  exulting  in  his  fancied 
success,  he  in  1750  ventured  to  collect  them  into  a  pamphlet, 
entitled  An  Essay  on  Milton's  Use  and  Imitation  of  the 
Moderns  in  his  Paradise  Lost.  To  this  pamphlet  Johnson 
wrote  a  Preface',  in  full  persuasion  of  Lauder's  honesty,  and 

the  following  paragraph : — '  Mr.  Lauder  confesses  here  and  exhibits 
all  his  forgeries ;  for  which  he  assigns  one  motive  in  the  book,  and 
after  asking  pardon  assigns  another  in  the  postscript ;  he  also  takes 
an  opportunity  to  publish  several  letters  and  testimonials  to  his  former 
character."     Goldsmith  in  Retaliation  has  a  hit  at  Lauder : — 
'  Here  Douglas  retires  from  his  toils  to  relax, 
The  scourge  of  impostors,  the  terror  of  quacks. 
New  Lauders  and  Bowers  the  Tweed  shall  cross  over, 
No  countryman  living  their  tricks  to  discover." 
Dr.  Douglas  was  afterwards  Bishop  of  Salisbury  {ante,  p.  147).     See 
/oj/,  June  25,  1763.  for  the  part  he  took  in  exposing  the  Cock  Lane 
Ghost  imposture. 

*  Scott  writing  to  Southey  in  1810  said  : — '  A  witty  rogue  the  other 
day,  who  sent  me  a  letter  signed  Detector,  proved  me  guilty  of  steal- 
ing a  passage  from  one  of  Vida"s  Latin  poems,  which  I  had  never  seen 
or  heard  of.'     The  passage  alleged  to  be  stolen  ends  with, — 
'  When  pain  and  anguish  wring  the  brow, 
A  ministering  angel  thou !' 
which  in  Vida  ad  Eranen.  El.  ii.  v.  21,  ran, — 

'  Cum  dolor  atque  supercilio  gravis  imminet  angor, 
Fungeris  angelico  sola  ministerio.' 
'  It  is  almost  needless  to  add,'  says  Mr.  Lockhart,  'there  are  no  such 
lines."     Life  of  Scott,  iii.  294. 

'  The  greater  part  of  this  Preface  was  given  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  for 
August  1747  (xvii.404). 

a  Postscript 


Aetat.42.]      Johnsoji  s  admiratio7i  of  Milto7i.  267 

a  Postscript  recommending,  in  the  most  persuasive  terms',  a 
subscription  for  the  relief  of  a  grand-daughter  of  Milton,  of 
whom  he  thus  speaks  : 

'  It  is  yet  in  the  power  of  a  great  people  to  reward  the  poet 
whose  name  they  boast,  and  from  their  alliance  to  whose  genius, 
they  claim  some  kind  of  superiority  to  every  other  nation  of  the 
earth ;  that  poet,  whose  works  may  possibly  be  read  when  every 
other  monument  of  British  greatness  shall  be  obliterated  ;  to  re- 
ward him,  not  with  pictures  or  with  medals,  which,  if  he  sees,  he 
sees  with  contempt,  but  with  tokens  of  gratitude,  which  he,  per- 
haps, may  even  now  consider  as  not  unworthy  the  regard  of  an 
immortal  spirit.' 

Surely  this  is  inconsistent  with  '  enmity  towards  Milton,' 
which  Sir  John  Hawkins'  imputes  to  Johnson  upon  this 
occasion,  adding, 

'  I  could  all  along  observe  that  Johnson  seemed  to  approve  not 
only  of  the  design,  but  of  the  argument ;  and  seemed  to  exult  in 
a  persuasion,  that  the  reputation  of  Milton  was  likely  to  suffer  by 
this  discovery.  That  he  was  not  privy  to  the  imposture,  I  am  well 
persuaded  ;  but  that  he  wished  well  to  the  argument,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  Preface,  which  indubitably  was  written  by  Johnson.' 

Is  it  possible  for  any  man  of  clear  judgement  to  suppose 
that  Johnson,  who  so  nobly  praised  the  poetical  excellence 
of  Milton  in  a  Postscript  to  this  very  '  discovery,'  as  he  then 
supposed  it,  could,  at  the  same  time,  exult  in  a  persuasion 
that  the  great  poet's  reputation  was  likely  to  suffer  by  it  ? 

'  '  Persuasive'  is  scarcely  a  fit  description  for  this  noble  outburst  of 
indignation  on  the  part  of  one  who  knew  all  the  miseries  of  poverty. 
After  quoting  Dr.  Newton's  account  of  the  distress  to  which  Milton's 
grand-daughter  had  been  reduced,  he  says :—' That  this  relation  is 
true  cannot  be  questioned  :  but  surely  the  honour  of  letters,  the  dig- 
nity of  sacred  poetry,  the  spirit  of  the  English  nation,  and  the  glory 
of  human  nature  require — that  it  should  be  true  no  longer.  ...  In  an 
age,  which  amidst  all  its  vices  and  all  its  follies  has  not  become  infa- 
mous for  want  of  charity,  it  may  be  surely  allowed  to  hope,  that  the 
living  remains  of  Milton  will  be  no  longer  suffered  to  languish  in  dis- 
tress.'    Johnson's  Works,  v.  270. 

•  Hawkins's  Johnson,  p.  275. 

This 


268  Mrs.  Amia  Williams.  [a.d.1751. 

This  is  an  inconsistency  of  which  Johnson  was  incapable  ; 
nor  can  any  thing  more  be  fairly  inferred  from  the  Preface, 
than  that  Johnson,  who  was  alike  distinguished  for  ardent 
curiosity  and  love  of  truth,  was  pleased  with  an  investiga- 
tion by  which  both  were  gratified.  That  he  was  actuated 
by  these  motives,  and  certainly  by  no  unworthy  desire  to 
depreciate  our  great  epick  poet,  is  evident  from  his  own 
words ;  for,  after  mentioning  the  general  zeal  of  men  of 
genius  and  literature  *  to  advance  the  honour,  and  distin- 
guish the  beauties  of  Paradise  Lost,'  he  says, 

'Among  the  inquiries  to  which  this  ardour  of  criticism  has  natu- 
rally given  occasion,  none  is  more  obscure  in  itself,  or  more  worthy 
of  rational  curiosity,  than  a  retrospect'  of  the  progress  of  this 
mighty  genius  in  the  construction  of  his  work ;  a  view  of  the  fab- 
rick  gradually  rising,  perhaps,  from  small  beginnings,  till  its  foun- 
dation rests  in  the  centre,  and  its  turrets  sparkle  in  the  skies  ; 
to  trace  back  the  structure  through  all  its  varieties,  to  the  simplic- 
ity of  its  first  plan  ;  to  find  what  was  first  projected,  whence  the 
scheme  was  taken,  how  it  was  improved,  by  what  assistance  it  was 
executed,  and  from  what  stores  the  materials  were  collected ;  wheth- 
er its  founder  dug  them  from  the  quarries  of  Nature,  or  demolished 
other  buildings  to  embellish  his  own.' 

Is  this  the  language  of  one  who  wished  to  blast  the  laurels 
of  Milton'  ? 

Though  Johnson's  circumstances  were  at  this  time  far 
from  being  easy,  his  humane  and  charitable  disposition  was 
constantly  exerting  itself.  Mrs.  Anna  Williams,  daughter 
of  a  very  ingenious  Welsh  physician,  and  a  woman  of  more 

'  In  the  original  retrospection.     Johnson's  Works,  v.  268. 

'  In  this  same  year  Johnson  thus  ends  a  severe  criticism  on  Samson 
Agonistes: — 'The  everlasting  verdure  of  Milton's  laurels  has  nothing 
to  fear  from  the  blasts  of  malignity;  nor  can  my  attempt  produce  any 
other  effect  than  to  strengthen  their  shoots  by  lopping  their  luxuri- 
ance.' The  Rambler,  No.  140.  '  Mr.  Nichols  shewed  Johnson  in  1780 
a  book  called  Remarks  on  Johnson  s  Life  of  Milton,  in  which  the 
affair  of  Lauder  was  renewed  with  virulence.  He  read  the  libellous 
passage  with  attention,  and  instantly  wrote  on  the  margin  : — "  In  the 
business  of  Lauder  I  was  deceived ;  partly  by  thinking  the  man  too 
frantic  to  be  fraudulent."  '     Murphy's  Johnson,  p.  66. 

than 


Actat.  42.]  Mrs.  Anna  Williams.  269 

than  ordinary  talents  and  literature,  having  come  to  London 
in  hopes  of  being  cured  of  a  cataract  in  both  her  eyes,  which 
afterwards  ended  in  total  blindness,  was  kindly  received  as  a 
constant  visitor  at  his  house  while  Mrs,  Johnson  lived  ;  and 
after  her  death,  having  come  under  his  roof  in  order  to  have 
an  operation  upon  her  eyes  performed  with  more  comfort  to 
her  than  in  lodgings,  she  had  an  apartment  from  him  during 
the  rest  of  her  life,  at  all  times  when  he  had  a  house'. 

'  'Johnson  turned  his  house,' writes  Lord  Macaulay, '  into  a  place 
of  refuge  for  a  crowd  of  wretched  old  creatures  who  could  find  no 
other  asylum ;  nor  could  all  their  peevishness  and  ingratitude  weary 
out  his  benevolence.'  {^Essays,  i.  390).  In  his  Biography  of  Johnson 
(p.  388)  he  says  that  Mrs.  Williams's  'chief  recommendations  were 
her  blindness  and  her  poverty.'  No  doubt  in  Johnson's  letters  to  Mrs. 
Thrale  are  found  amusing  accounts  of  the  discord  of  the  inmates  of 
his  house.  But  it  is  abundantly  clear  that  in  Mrs.  Williams's  com- 
pany he  had  for  years  found  pleasure.  A  few  months  after  her  death 
he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Thrale  :  '  You  have  more  than  once  wondered  at 
my  complaint  of  solitude,  when  you  hear  that  I  am  crowded  with 
visits.  Inopem  me  copia  fecit.  Visitors  are  no  proper  companions  in 
the  chamber  of  sickness.  .  .  .  The  amusements  and  consolations  of 
languor  and  depression  are  conferred  by  familiar  and  domestic  com- 
panions. .  .  .  Such  society  I  had  with  Levett  and  Williams'  {Piozzz 
Letters,  ii.  341).  To  Mrs.  Montagu  he  wrote  : — '  Thirty  years  and  more 
she  had  been  my  companion,  and  her  death  has  left  me  very  desolate' 
(Croker's  Boswell,  p.  739).  Boswell  says  that  'her  departure  left  a 
blank  in  his  house  '  {post,  Aug.  1783).  '  By  her  death,'  writes  Murphy, 
'  he  was  left  in  a  state  of  destitution,  with  nobody  but  his  black  servant 
to  soothe  his  anxious  moments'  (Murphy's  Johnson,  p.  122).  Haw- 
kins {Life,  p.  558)  says  that  'she  had  not  only  cheered  him  in  his 
solitude,  and  helped  him  to  pass  with  comfort  those  hours  which 
otherwise  would  have  been  irksome  to  him,  but  had  relieved  him 
from  domestic  cares,  regulated  and  watched  over  the  expenses  of  his 
house,  etc'  'She  had,'  as  Boswell  says  {post,  Aug.  1783),  'valuable 
qualities.'  '  Had  she  had,'  wrote  Johnson,  '  good  humour  and  prompt 
elocution,  her  universal  curiosity  and  comprehensive  knowledge  would 
have  made  her  the  delight  of  all  that  knew  her '  {Piozzi  Letters,  ii.  31 1). 
To  Langton  he  wrote : — '  I  have  lost  a  companion  to  whom  I  have 
had  recourse  for  domestic  amusement  for  thirty  years,  and  whose 
variety  of  knowledge  never  was  exhausted'  {post,  Sept.  29,  1783). 
*  Her  acquisitions,"  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Burney,  '  were  many  and  her  curi- 
osity universal ;  so   that  she  partook  of  every  conversation  '  {post, 

1752: 


270  The  close  of  The  Rambler.         [a.d.  1752. 

1752:  i?iTAT.  43.] — In  1752  he  was  almost  entirely  occu- 
pied  with  his  Dictionary.  The  last  paper  of  his  Rambler 
was  published  March  2',  this  year ;  after  which,  there  was  a 


Sept.  1783).  Murphy  {Life,  ■p.  72)  says: — 'She  possessed  uncommon 
talents,  and,  though  blind,  had  an  alacrity  of  mind  that  made  her 
conversation  agreeable,  and  even  desirable.'  According  to  Hawkins 
{Life,  322-4)  '  she  had  acquired  a  knowledge  of  French  and  Italian, 
and  had  made  great  improvements  in  literature.  She  was  a  woman 
of  an  enlightened  understanding.  Johnson  in  many  exigencies  found 
her  an  able  counsellor,  and  seldom  shewed  his  wisdom  more  than 
when  he  hearkened  to  her  advice.'  Perhaps  Johnson  had  her  in  his 
thoughts  when,  writing  of  Pope's  last  years  and  Martha  Blount,  he 
said  : — '  Their  acquaintance  began  early;  the  life  of  each  was  pictured 
on  the  other's  mind ;  their  conversation  therefore  was  endearing,  for 
when  they  met  there  was  an  immediate  coalition  of  congenial  notions.' 
(Johnson's  Works,  viii.  304).  Miss  Mulso  (Mrs.  Chapone)  writing  to 
Mrs.  Carter  in  1753,  says: — 'I  was  charmed  with  Mr.  Johnson's  be- 
haviour to  Mrs.  Williams,  which  was  like  that  of  a  fond  father  to  his 
daughter.  She  shewed  very  good  sense,  with  a  great  deal  of  modesty 
and  humility;  and  so  much  patience  and  cheerfulness  under  her  mis- 
fortune that  it  doubled  my  concern  for  her '  {Mrs.  Chapone  s  Life, 
p.  73).  Miss  Talbot  wrote  to  Mrs.  Carter  in  1756 : — ■  My  mother  the 
other  day  fell  in  love  with  your  friend,  Mrs.  Williams,  whom  we  met 
at  Mr.  Richardson's  [where  Miss  Mulso  also  had  met  her],  and  is  par- 
ticularly charmed  with  the  sweetness  of  her  voice  '  (Talbot  and  Carter, 
Corresp.  ii.  221).  Miss  Talbot  was  a  niece  of  Lord  Chancellor  Talbot. 
Hannah  More  wrote  in  1774  : — '  Mrs.  Williams  is  engaging  in  her  man- 
ners ;  her  conversation  lively  and  entertaining  '  (More's  Memoirs,  i.  49). 
Boswell,  however,  more  than  once  complains  that  she  was  '  peevish ' 
{post,  Oct.  26,  1769  and  April  7,  1776).  At  a  time  when  she  was  very 
ill,  and  had  gone  into  the  country  to  try  if  she  could  improve  her 
health,  Johnson  wrote  : — '  Age,  and  sickness,  and  pride  have  made  her 
so  peevish,  that  I  was  forced  to  bribe  the  maid  to  stay  with  her  by  a 
secret  stipulation  of  half-a-crown  a  week  over  her  wages '  {post,  July 
22,  1777).  Malone,  in  a  note  on  August  2,  1763,  says  that  he  thinks 
she  had  of  her  own  '  about  ^^35  or  £\o  a  year.'  This  was  in  her  latter 
days ;  Johnson  had  prevailed  on  Garrick  to  give  her  a  benefit  and 
Mrs.  Montagu  to  give  her  a  pension.  She  used,  he  adds,  to  help  in 
the  house-work. 

'  March  14.  See  ante,  p.  235,  note  3.  He  had  grown  weary  of  his 
work.  In  the  last  Rambler  but  one  he  wrote:  —  'When  once  our 
labour  has  begun,  the  comfort  that  enables  us  to  endure  it  is  the 

cessation 


Aetat.43.j     Snspe)ision  of  his  literary  labors.  271 

cessation  for  some  time  of  any  exertion  of  his  talents  as  an 
essayist.  But,  in  the  same  year,  Dr.  Hawkesworth,  who  was 
his  warm  admirer,  and  a  studious  imitator  of  his  style',  and 
then  lived  in  great  intimacy  with  him,  began  a  periodical 
paper,  entitled  The  Adventurer,  in  connection  with  other  gen- 
tlemen, one  of  whom  was  Johnson's  much-loved  friend,  Dr. 
Bathurst ;  and,  without  doubt,  they  received  many  valuable 
hints  from  his  conversation,  most  of  his  friends  having  been 
so  assisted  in  the  course  of  their  works. 

That  there  should  be  a  suspension  of  his  literary  labours 
during  a  part  of  the  year  1752,  will  not  seem  strange,  when 
it  is  considered  that  soon  after  closing  his  Rambler,  he  suf- 
fered a  'oss  which,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  affected  him  with 
the  deepest  distress\     For  on  the  17th  of  March,  O.S.,  his 


prospect  of  its  end.  .  .  .  He  that  is  himself  weary  will  soon  weary  the 
public.  Let  him  therefore  lay  down  his  employment,  whatever  it  be, 
who  can  no  longer  exert  his  former  activity  or  attention  ;  let  him  not 
endeavour  to  struggle  with  censure,  or  obstinately  infest  the  stage,  till 
a  general  hiss  commands  him  to  depart.' 

'  How  successful  an  imitator  Hawkesworth  was  is  shewn  by  the 
following  passage  in  the  Carter  and  Talbot  Corresp.,  ii.  109: — 'I  dis- 
cern Mr.  Johnson  through  all  the  papers  that  are  not  marked  A,  as 
evidently  as  if  I  saw  him  through  the  keyhole  with  the  pen  in  his 
hand.* 

'  In  The  Rambler  for  Feb.  25  of  this  year  (No.  203)  he  wrote  in  the 
following  melancholy  strain  : — '  Every  period  of  life  is  obliged  to  bor- 
row its  happiness  from  the  time  to  come.  In  youth  we  hav'e  nothing 
past  to  entertain  us,  and  in  age  we  derive  little  from  retrospect  but 
hopeless  sorrow.  Yet  the  future  likewise  has  its  limits  which  the  im- 
agination dreads  to  approach,  but  which  we  see  to  be  not  far  distant. 
The  loss  of  our  friends  and  companions  impresses  hourly  upon  us  the 
necessity  of  our  own  departure ;  we  know  that  the  schemes  of  man 
are  quickly  at  an  end,  that  we  must  soon  lie  down  in  the  grave  with 
the  forgotten  multitudes  of  former  ages,  and  yield  our  place  toothers, 
who,  like  us,  shall  be  driven  a  while  by  hope  or  fear  about  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  and  then  like  us  be  lost  in  the  shades  of  death.'  In  Pray- 
ers and  Meditations,  pp.  12-1  5,  in  a  service  that  he  used  on  May  6,  '  as 
preparatory  to  my  return  to  life  to-morrow,'  he  prays : — '  Enable  me 
to  begin  and  perfect  that  reformation  which  I  promised  her,  and  to 
persevere  in  that  resolution  which  she  implored  Thee  to  continue,  in 

wife 


272  Death  of  Johjisons  wife.  [a. d.  1752. 

wife  died.  Why  Sir  John  Hawkins  should  unwarrantably 
take  upon  him  even  to  suppose  that  Johnson's  fondness  for 
her  was  dissembled  (meaning  simulated  or  assumed,)  and  to 
assert,  that  if  it  was  not  the  case,  '  it  was  a  lesson  he  had 
learned  by  rote','  I  cannot  conceive  ;  unless  it  proceeded 
from  a  want  of  similar  feelings  in  his  own  breast.  To  argue 
from  her  being  much  older  than  Johnson,  or  any  other  cir- 
cumstances, that  he  could  not  really  love  her,  is  absurd  ;  for 
love  is  not  a  subject  of  reasoning,  but  of  feeling,  and  there- 
fore there  are  no  common  principles  upon  which  one  can 
persuade  another  concerning  it.  Every  man  feels  for  him- 
self, and  knows  how  he  is  affected  by  particular  qualities  in 
the  person  he  admires,  the  impressions  of  which  art  too  mi- 
nute and  delicate  to  be  substantiated  in  language. 

The  following  very  solemn  and  affecting  prayer  was  found 
after  Dr.  Johnson's  decease,  by  his  servant,  Mr.  Francis  Bar- 
ber, who  delivered  it  to  my  worthy  friend  the  Reverend  Mr. 
Strahan\  Vicar  of  Islington,  who  at  my  earnest  request  has 
obligingly  favoured  me  with  a  copy  of  it,  which  he  and  I 
compared  with  the  original.  I  present  it  to  the  world  as 
an  undoubted  proof  of  a  circumstance  in  the  character  of 
my  illustrious  friend,  which  though  some  whose  hard  minds 
I  never  shall  envy,  may  attack  as  superstitious,  will  I  am 
sure  endear  him  more  to  numbers  of  good  men'.     I  have  an 

the  purposes  which  I  recorded  in  Thy  sight  when  she  lay  dead  before 
me.'  See  post,  Jan.  20,  1780.  The  author  of  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and 
Writings  of  Dr.  Johnson,  1785,  says,  p.  113,  that  on  the  death  of  his 
wife, '  to  walk  the  streets  of  London  was  for  many  a  lonesome  night 
Johnson's  constant  substitute  for  sleep.' 

'  '  I  have  often  been  inclined  to  think  that,  if  this  fondness  of  John- 
son for  his  wife  was  not  dissembled,  it  was  a  lesson  that  he  had  learned 
by  rote,  and  that,  when  he  practised  it,  he  knew  not  where  to  stop  till 
he  became  ridiculous.'     Hawkins's  yt»/;«^<?«,  p.  313. 

''■  The  son  of  William  Strahan,  M.P.,  'Johnson's  old  and  constant 
friend.  Printer  to  His  Majesty'  {post,  under  April  20,  1781).  He  at- 
tended Johnson  on  his  death-bed,  and  published  the  volume  called 
Prayers  and  Meditations. 

'  Southey  in  his  Life  of  Wesley,  i.  359,  writes: — '  The  universal  atten- 
tion which  has  been  paid  to  dreams  in  all  ages  proves  that  the  super- 
additional, 


Aetat.  43.]  yohnsofis  love  for  his  wife. 


/o 


additional,  and  that  a  personal  motive  for  presenting  it,  be- 
cause it  sanctions  what  I  myself  have  always  maintained 
and  am  fond  to  indulge. 

'  April  26.  1752.  being  after  12  at  Night  of  the  25th. 
'  O  Lord !  Governour  of  heaven  and  earth,  in  whose  hands  are 
embodied  and  departed  Spirits,  if  thou  hast  ordained  the  Souls  of 
the  Dead  to  minister  to  the  Living,  and  appointed  my  departed 
Wife  to  have  care  of  me,  grant  that  I  may  enjoy  the  good  effects 
of  her  attenrion  and  ministration,  whether  exercised  by  appearance, 
impulses,  dreams'  or  in  any  other  manner  agreeable  to  thy  Gov- 
ernment. Forgive  my  presumption,  enlighten  my  ignorance,  and 
however  meaner  agents  are  employed,  grant  me  the  blessed  influ- 
ences of  thy  holy  Spirit,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen.' 

What  actually  followed  upon  this  most  interesting  piece  of 
devotion  by  Johnson,  we  are  not  informed  ;  but  I,  whom  it 
has  pleased  GOD  to  afflict  in  a  similar  manner  to  that  which 
occasioned  it,  have  certain  experience  of  benignant  commu- 
nication by  dreams'. 

That  his  love  for  his  wife  was  of  the  most  ardent  kind,  and, 
during  the  long  period  of  fifty  years,  was  unimpaired  by  the 
lapse  of  time,  is  evident  from  various  passages  in  the  series 
of  his  Prayers  and  Meditations,  published  by  the  Reverend 
Mr.  Strahan,  as  well  as  from  other  memorials,  two  of  which 
I  select,  as  strongly  marking  the  tenderness  and  sensibility 
of  his  mind. 

'March  28,  1753.     I  kept  this  day'  as  the  anniversary  of  my 

stition  is  natural ;  and  I  have  heard  too  many  well-attested  facts  (facts 
to  which  belief  could  not  be  refused  upon  any  known  laws  of  evidence) 
not  to  believe  that  impressions  are  sometimes  made  in  this  manner, 
and  forewarnings  communicated,  which  cannot  be  explained  by  mate- 
rial philosophy  or  mere  metaphysics.' 

'  Warburton  in  his  Divine  Legation,  i.  284.  quotes  the  '  famous 
sepulchral  inscription  of  the  Roman  widow."  '  Ita  peto  vos  Manes 
sanctissimi  commendatum  habeatis  meum  conjugem  et  velitis  huic 
indulgentissimi  esse  horis  nocturnis  ut  eum  videam.'  etc. 

'  Mrs.  Boswell  died  in  June  1789.  Johnson's  prayer  with  Boswell's 
comments  on  it  was  first  inserted  in  the  Additions  to  the  second 
edition. 

'  Mrs.  Johnson  died  on  March  17,  O.  S.,  or  March  28.  N.  S.  The 
I.— 18  Tetty's 


2  74  ^^'^  wedding-ring.  [a. d.  1752. 

Tetty's  death',  with  prayer  and  tears  in  the  morning.  In  the  even' 
ing  I  prayed  for  her  conditionally,  if  it  were  lawful.' 

'April  23,  1753.  I  know  not  whether  I  do  not  too  much  in- 
dulge in  vain  longings  of  affection  ;  but  I  hope  they  intenerate  my 
heart,  and  that  when  I  die  like  my  Tetty,  this  affection  will  be 
acknowledged  in  a  happy  interview,  and  that  in  the  mean  time  I 
am  incited  by  it  to  piety.  I  will,  however,  not  deviate  too  much 
from  common  and  received  methods  of  devotion.' 

Her  wedding-ring,  when  she  became  his  wife,  was,  after  her 
death,  preserved  by  him,  as  long  as  he  lived,  with  an  affec- 
tionate care,  in  a  little  round  wooden  box,  in  the  inside  of 

change  of  style  was  made  in  September  1752.  He  might  have  kept 
either  the  17th,  or  the  28th  as  the  anniversary.  In  like  manner, 
though  he  was  born  on  Sept.  7,  after  the  change  he  kept  the  i8th  as 
his  birth-day.  See  post,  beginning  of  1753.  where  he  writes,  'Jan.  i, 
N.  S.,  which  I  shall  use  for  the  future.' 

'  In  Prayers  and  Meditations,  p.  22,  he  recorded  :  'The  melancholy 
of  this  day  hung  long  upon  me.'  P.  53:  'April  22,  1764,  Thought  on 
Tetty,  dear,  poor  Tetty,  with  my  eyes  full.'  P.  91  :  '  March  28,  1770. 
This  is  the  day  on  which,  in  1752,  I  was  deprived  of  poor,  dear  Tetty. 
.  .  .  When  I  recollect  the  time  in  which  we  lived  together,  my  grief 
for  her  departure  is  not  abated  ;  and  I  have  less  pleasure  in  any  good 
that  befalls  me  because  she  does  not  partake  it.'  P.  170:  'April  20, 
1778.  Poor  Tetty,  whatever  were  our  faults  and  failings,  we  loved 
each  other.  I  did  not  forget  thee  yesterday  [Easter  Sunday].  Couldest 
thou  have  lived! — '  P.  210:  'March  28,  1782.  This  is  the  day  on 
which,  in  1752,  dear  Tetty  died.  I  have  now  uttered  a  prayer  of  re- 
pentance and  contrition ;  perhaps  Tetty  knows  that  I  prayed  for  her. 
Perhaps  Tetty  is  now  praying  for  me.  God  help  me.'  In  a  letter  to 
Mrs.  Thrale  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  her  son  (dated  March  30, 
1776)  he  thus  refers  to  the  loss  of  his  wife : — '  I  know  that  a  whole 
system  of  hopes,  and  designs,  and  expectations  is  swept  away  at  once, 
and  nothing  left  but  bottomless  vacuity.  What  you  feel  I  have  felt, 
and  hope  that  your  disquiet  will  be  shorter  than  mine.'  Piozzi  Let- 
ters, i.  310.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Elphinston,  who  had  just  lost  his  wife, 
written  on  July  27,  1778,  he  repeats  the  same  thought: — 'A  loss  such 
as  yours  lacerates  the  mind,  and  breaks  the  whole  system  of  purposes 
and  hopes.  It  leaves  a  dismal  vacuity  in  life,  which  affords  nothing 
on  which  the  affections  can  fix,  or  to  which  endeavour  may  be  directed. 
All  this  I  have  known.'  Croker's  Boswell,  p.  66,  note.  See  also  post, 
his  letter  to  Mr.  Warton  of  Dec.  21,  1754,  and  to  Dr.  Lawrence  of  Jan. 
20,  1780. 

which 


Aetat.43.1  Her  wedding-ring.  275 

which  he  pasted  a  sHp  of  paper,  thus  inscribed  by  him  in  fair 
characters,  as  follows : 

'Eheu! 

Eliz.  yohnson, 

Nupta  Jul.  9°  1736, 

Mortua,  eheu  ! 

Mart.  17°  1752'. 

After  his  death,  Mr.  Francis  Barber,  his  faithful  servant 
and  residuary  legatee,  offered  this  memorial  of  tenderness  to 
Mrs.  Lucy  Porter,  Mrs.  Johnson's  daughter;  but  she  having 
declined  to  accept  of  it,  he  had  it  enamelled  as  a  mourning 
ring  for  his  old  master,  and  presented  it  to  his  wife,  Mrs.  Bar- 
ber, who  now  has  it. 

The  state  of  mind  in  which  a  man  must  be  upon  the  death 
of  a  woman  whom  he  sincerely  loves,  had  been  in  his  con- 
templation many  years  before.  In  his  Irene,  we  find  the 
following  fervent  and  tender  speech  of  Demetrius,  addressed 
to  his  Aspasia  : 

*  From  those  bright  regions  of  eternal  day, 
Where  now  thou  shin'st  amongst  thy  fellow  saints, 
Array'd  in  purer  light,  look  down  on  me  ! 
In  pleasing  visions  and  delusive  dreams, 
O !  sooth  my  soul,  and  teach  me  how  to  lose  thee".' 

I  have,  indeed,  been  told  by  Mrs.  Desmoulins,  who,  before 
her  marriage,  lived  for  some  time  with  Mrs.  Johnson  at  Hamp- 
stead',  that  she  indulged  herself  in  country  air  and  nice  living, 
at  an  unsuitable  expense*,  while  her  husband  was  drudging  in 
the  smoke  of  London,  and  that  she  by  no  means  treated  him 

'  In  the  usual  monthly  list  of  deaths  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  her  name  is 
not  given.    Johnson  did  not,  I  suppose,  rank  among  '  eminent  persons.' 

*  Irene,  Act  i.  sc.  i. 

^  See  post,  Nov.  16,  1784,  note. 

*  The  Anderdon  MSS.  contain  an  importunate  letter,  dated  July  3, 
1 75 1,  from  one  Mitchell,  a  tradesman  in  Chandos-street,  pressing  John- 
son to  pay  £2,  due  by  his  wife  ever  since  August,  1749,  and  threatening 
legal  proceedings  to  enforce  payment.  This  letter  Mr.  Boswell  had 
endorsed,  'Proof  of  Dr.  Johnson's  wretched  circumstances  in  1751.' 
Croker. 

with 


276  The  shock  of  separation.  [a. d.  1752. 

with  that  complacency  which  is  the  most  engaging  quahty 
in  a  wife.  But  all  this  is  perfectly  compatible  with  his  fond- 
ness for  her,  especially  when  it  is  remembered  that  he  had  a 
high  opinion  of  her  understanding,  and  that  the  impressions 
which  her  beauty,  real  or  imaginary,  had  originally  made  upon 
his  fancy,  being  continued  by  habit,  had  not  been  effaced, 
though  she  herself  was  doubtless  much  altered  for  the  worse. 
The  dreadful  shock  of  separation  took  place  in  the  night  ; 
and  he  immediately  dispatched  a  letter  to  his  friend,  the 
Reverend  Dr.  Taylor,  which,  as  Taylor  told  me,  expressed 
grief  in  the  strongest  manner  he  had  ever  read  ;  so  that  it  is 
much  to  be  regretted  it  has  not  been  preserved'.  The  letter 
was  brought  to  Dr.  Taylor,  at  his  house  in  the  Cloisters, 
Westminster,  about  three  in  the  morning  ;  and  as  it  signified 
an  earnest  desire  to  see  him,  he  got  up,  and  went  to  Johnson 
as  soon  as  he  was  dressed,  and  found  him  in  tears  and  in  ex- 
treme agitation.  After  being  a  little  while  together,  Johnson 
requested  him  to  join  with  him  in  prayer.  He  then  prayed 
extempore,  as  did  Dr.  Taylor ;  and  thus,  by  means  of  that 
piety  which  was  ever  his  primary  object,  his  troubled  mind 
was,  in  some  degree,  soothed  and  composed. 
The  next  day  he  wrote  as  follows : 

'To  THE  Reverend  Dr.  Taylor. 
'Dear  Sir, 

'  Let  me  have  your  company  and  instruction.     Do  not  live 

away  from  me.     My  distress  is  great. 

'  Pray  desire  Mrs.  Taylor  to  inform  me  what  mourning  I  should 

buy  for  my  mother  and   Miss   Porter,  and  bring  a  note  in  writing 

with  you. 

'  Remember  me  in  your  prayers,  for  vain  is  the  help  of  man. 

'  I  am,  dear  Sir,  &c. 

-,     ,     „  ,  'Sam.  Johnson. 

'  March  i8,  1752. 

'  In  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  February  1794.  (p.  loo.)  was  printed  a  letter 
pretending  to  be  that  written  by  Johnson  on  the  death  of  his  wife. 
But  it  is  merely  a  transcript  of  the  41st  number  of  The  Idler.  A  ficti- 
tious date  (March  17,  1751,  O.  S.)  was  added  by  some  person  previous 
to  this  paper  being  sent  to  the  publisher  of  that  miscellany,  to  give  a 
colour  to  this  deception.     Malone. 

That 


Aetat.43.]  Francis  Barber.  277 

That  his  sufferings  upon  the  death  of  his  wife  were  severe, 
beyond  what  are  commonly  endured,  I  have  no  doubt,  from 
the  information  of  many  who  were  then  about  him,  to  none 
of  w^hom  I  give  more  credit  than  to  Mr.  Francis  Barber, 
his  faithful  negro  servant",  who  came  into  his  family  about 
a  fortnight  after  the  dismal  event.  These  sufferings  were 
aggravated  by  the  melancholy  inherent  in  his  constitution  ; 
and  although  he  probably  was  not  oftener  in  the  wrong 
than  she  was,  in  the  little  disagreements  which  sometimes 
troubled  his  married  state',  during  which,  he  owned  to  me, 
that  the  gloomy  irritability  of  his  existence  was  more  painful 

'  Francis  Barber  was  born  in  Jamaica,  and  was  brought  to  England 
in  1750  by  Colonel  Bathurst,  father  of  Johnson's  very  intimate  friend, 
Dr.  Bathurst.  He  was  sent,  for  some  time,  to  the  Reverend  Mr.  Jack- 
son's school,  at  Barton,  in  Yorkshire.  The  Colonel  by  his  will  left  him 
his  freedom,  and  Dr.  Bathurst  was  willing  that  he  should  enter  into 
Johnson's  service,  in  which  he  continued  from  1752  till  Johnson's 
death,  with  the  exception  of  two  interv^als  ;  in  one  of  which,  upon 
some  difference  with  his  master,  he  went  and  served  an  apothecary  in 
Cheapside,  but  still  visited  Dr.  Johnson  occasionally ;  in  another,  he 
took  a  fancy  to  go  to  sea.  Part  of  the  time,  indeed,  he  was,  by  the 
kindness  of  his  master,  at  a  school  in  Northamptonshire,  that  he 
might  have  the  advantage  of  some  learning.  So  early  and  so  lasting 
a  connection  was  there  between  Dr.  Johnson  and  this  humble  friend. 
BoswELL.  '  I  believe  that  Francis  was  scarcely  as  much  the  object  of 
Mr.  Johnson's  personal  kindness  as  the  representative  of  Dr.  Bathurst, 
for  whose  sake  he  would  have  loved  anybody  or  anything.'  Piozzi's 
Anec.  p.  212. 

''  '  I  asked  him,'  writes  Mrs.  Piozzi  (Anec.  pp.  146-150),  '  if  he  ev'er 
disputed  with  his  wife.  "  Perpetually,  "  said  he;  "  my  wife  had  a  par- 
ticular reverence  for  cleanliness,  and  desired  the  praise  of  neatness  in 
her  dress  and  furniture,  as  many  ladies  do,  till  they  become  trouble- 
some to  their  best  friends,  slaves  to  their  own  besoms,  and  only  sigh 
for  the  hour  of  sweeping  their  husbands  out  of  the  house  as  dirt  and 
useless  lumber.  A  clean  floor  is  so  comfortable,  she  would  say  some- 
times by  way  of  twitting ;  till  at  last  I  told  her  that  I  thought  we  had 
had  talk  enough  about  the  floor,  we  would  now  have  a  touch  at  the 
ceiling."  I  asked  him  if  he  ever  huffed  his  wife  about  his  dinner. 
"So  often,"  replied  he,  "that  at  last  she  called  to  me  and  said.  Nay, 
hold,  Mr.  Johnson,  and  do  not  make  a  farce  of  thanking  God  for  a 
dinner  which  in  a  few  minutes  you  will  protest  not  eatable." ' 

to 


278  Prayers  for  the  dead.  [a.d.  1752. 

to  him  than  ever,  he  might  very  naturally,  after  her  death, 
be  tenderly  disposed  to  charge  himself  with  slight  omissions 
and  offences,  the  sense  of  which  would  give  him  much  uneasi- 
ness'. Accordingly  we  find,  about  a  year  after  her  decease, 
that  he  thus  addressed  the  Supreme  Being :  '  O  LORD,  who 
givest  the  grace  of  repentance,  and  hearest  the  prayers  of  the 
penitent,  grant  that  by  true  contrition  I  may  obtain  forgive- 
ness of  all  the  sins  committed,  and  of  all  duties  neglected  in 
my  union  with  the  wife  whom  thou  hast  taken  from  me ; 
for  the  neglect  of  joint  devotion,  patient  exhortation,  and 
mild  instruction\'  The  kindness  of  his  heart,  notwithstand- 
ing the  impetuosity  of  his  temper,  is  well  known  to  his 
friends ;  and  I  cannot  trace  the  smallest  foundation  for  the 
following  dark  and  uncharitable  assertion  by  Sir  John  Haw- 
kins:  'The  apparition  of  his  departed  wife  was  altogether  of 
the  terrifick  kind,  and  hardly  afforded  him  a  hope  that  she 
was  in  a  state  of  happiness'.'  That  he,  in  conformity  with 
the  opinion  of  many  of  the  most  able,  learned,  and  pious 
Christians  in  all  ages,  supposed  that  there  was  a  middle  state 
after  death,  previous  to  the  time  at  which  departed  souls  are 
finally  received  to  eternal  felicity,  appears,  I  think,  unques- 
tionably from  his  devotions*:  'And,  O  Lord,  so  far  as  it  may 
be  lawful  in  me\  I  commend  to  thy  fatherly  goodness  the  soul 

1  *  When  a  friend  is  carried  to  his  grave,  we  at  once  find  excuses  for 
every  weakness,  and  palliations  of  every  fault ;  we  recollect  a  thousand 
endearments,  which  before  glided  ofl  our  minds  without  impression, 
a  thousand  favours  unrepaid,  a  thousand  duties  unperformed ;  and 
wish,  vainly  wish,  for  his  return,  not  so  much  that  we  may  receive,  as 
that  we  may  bestow  happiness,  and  recompense  that  kindness  which 
before  we  never  understood.'     Rambler,  No.  54. 

*  Pr.  and  Med.  p.  19.     BOSWELL. 

*  Hawkins's  Life  of  Johnson,  p.  316.     BosWELL. 

*  Set  post,  Oct.  26,  1769,  where  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  of  pur- 
gatory, or  'a  middle  state,'  as  Johnson  calls  it  is  discussed,  and  Bos- 
well's  Hebrides,  Oct.  25,  1773. 

*  In  the  original, '  lawful /(3r  me.'  Much  the  same  prayer  Johnson 
made  for  his  mother.  Pr.  and  Med.  p.  38.  On  Easter  Day,  1764,  he 
records: — 'After  sermon  I  recommended  Tetty  in  a  prayer  by  herself; 
and  my  father,  mother,  brother,  and  Bathurst  in  another.    I  did  it  only 

of 


Aetat.  43.]    The  funeral  sermou  on  Airs.  Johjison.     279 

of  my  departed  wife  ;  beseeching  thee  to  grant  her  whatever 
is  best  in  her  present  state,  and  finally  to  receive  her  to  eternal 
happiness^.'  But  this  state  has  not  been  looked  upon  with 
horrour,  but  only  as  less  gracious. 

He  deposited  the  remains  of  Mrs.  Johnson  in  the  church 
of  Bromley,  in  Kent',  to  which  he  was  probably  led  by  the 
residence  of  his  friend  Hawkesworth  at  that  place.  The 
funeral  sermon  which  he  composed  for  her,  which  was  never 
preached,  but  having  been  given  to  Dr.  Taylor,  has  been  pub- 
lished since  his  death',  is  a  performance  of  uncommon  excel- 
lence, and  full  of  rational  and  pious  comfort  to  such  as  are 
depressed  by  that  severe  affliction  which  Johnson  felt  when 
he  wrote  it.  When  it  is  considered  that  it  was  written  in  such 
an  agitation  of  mind,  and  in  the  short  interval  between  her 
death  and  burial,  it  cannot  be  read  without  wonder*. 

once,  so  far  as  it  might  be  lawful  for  me.'  lb.  p.  54.  On  the  death  of 
Mr.  Thrale  he  wrote,  '  May  God  that  delighteth  in  mercy  have  had 
mercy  on  thee.'  lb.  p.  191  ;  and  later  on, '  for  Henry  Thrale,  so  far  as 
is  lawful,  I  humbly  implore  thy  mercy  in  his  present  state.'  lb.  p.  197. 
'  Pr.  and  Med.  p.  20.     BoswELL. 

*  Shortly  before  his  death  (see  post,  July  12,  1784)  Johnson  had  a 
stone  placed  over  her  grave  with  the  following  inscription  : — 

Hie  conduntur  reliquiae 

ELIZABETHAE 

Antiqua  Jarvisiorum  gente, 

Peatlingae,  apud  Leicestrienses,  ortae  ; 

Formosae,  cultae,  ingeniosae,  piae; 
Uxoris,  primis  nuptiis,  Henrici    Porter, 

Secundis  Samuelis  Johnson  : 

Qui  multum  amatam,  diuque  defletam 

Hoc  lapide  contexit. 

Obiit  Londini  Mense  Mart. 

A.D.   MDCC  LIII. 

As  Mrs.  Johnson  died  in  1752,  the  date  is  wrong. 
^  S&epost,  Sept.  21,  1777. 

*  He  described  her  as  a  woman  '  whom  none,  who  were  capable  of 
distinguishing  either  moral  or  intellectual  excellence,  could  know 
without  esteem  or  tenderness.  She  was  extensively  charitable  in  her 
judgements  and  opinions,  grateful  for  every  kindness  that  she  received, 
and  willing  to  impart  assistance  of  every  kind  to  all  whom  her  little 

From 


28o  yohnsons  friends  in    1752.  [a. d.  1752. 

From  Mr.  Francis  Barber  I  have  had  the  following  authen- 
tick  and  artless  account  of  the  situation  in  which  he  found 
him  recently  after  his  wife's  death : 

He  was  in  great  affliction.  Mrs.  Williams  was  then  living  in  his 
house,  which  was  in  Gough-square.  He  was  busy  with  the  Dic- 
tionary. Mr.  Shiels,  and  some  others  of  the  gentlemen  who  had 
formerly  written  for  him,  used  to  come  about  him.  He  had  then 
little  for  himself,  but  frequently  sent  money  to  Mr.  Shiels  when  in 
distress'.  The  friends  who  visited  him  at  that  time,  were  chiefly 
Dr.  Bathurst',  and   Mr.  Diamond,  an   apothecary  in   Cork-street, 


power  enabled  her  to  benefit.  She  passed  through  many  months  of 
langour,  weakness,  and  decay  without  a  single  murmur  of  impatience, 
and  often  expressed  her  adoration  of  that  mercy  which  granted  her  so 
long  time  for  recollection  and  penitence.'     Johnson's  Works,  ix.  523. 

'  See  ante,  p.  216. 

'  Dr.  Bathurst,  though  a  Physician  of  no  inconsiderable  merit,  had 
not  the  good  fortune  to  get  much  practice  in  London.  He  was,  there- 
fore willing  to  accept  of  employment  abroad,  and,  to  the  regret  of  all 
who  knew  him,  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  destructive  climate,  in  the  expe- 
dition against  the  Havannah.  Mr.  Langton  recollects  the  following 
passage  in  a  letter  from  Dr.  Johnson  to  Mr.  Beauclerk  :  '  The  Havan- 
nah is  taken  ;— a  conquest  too  dearly  obtained  ;  for,  Bathurst  died  be- 
fore it.     "  Vtx  Priantus  tanti  toiaque  Troja  fuit."  '     BOSWELL. 

The  quotation  is  from  Ovid,  Heroides,  i.  4.  Johnson  {post,  Dec.  21, 
1762)  wrote  to  Baretti,  'Bathurst  went  physician  to  the  army,  and 
died  at  the  Havannah.'  Mr.  Harwood  in  his  History  of  Lichfield,'^. 
451,  gives  two  letters  from  Bathurst  to  Johnson  dated  1757.  In  the 
postscript  to  one  he  says  : — '  I  know  you  will  call  me  a  lazy  dog,  and 
in  truth  I  deserve  it ;  but  I  am  afraid  I  shall  never  mend.  I  have  in- 
deed long  known  that  I  can  love  my  friends  without  being  able  to  tell 
them  so.  .  .  .  Adieu  my  dearest  friend."  He  calls  Johnson  'the  best 
of  friends,  to  whom  I  stand  indebted  for  all  the  little  virtue  and 
knowledge  that  I  have.'  '  Nothing,'  he  continues,  '  I  think,  but  abso- 
lute want  can  force  me  to  continue  where  I  am."  Jamaica  he  calls 
'this  execrable  region.'  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  235)  says  that  '  Bathurst, 
before  leaving  England,  confessed  to  Johnson  that  in  the  course  of 
ten  years'  exercise  of  his  faculty  he  had  never  opened  his  hand  to 
more  than  one  guinea.'  Johnson  perhaps  had  Bathurst  in  mind  when, 
many  years  later,  he  wrote : — '  A  physician  in  a  great  city  seems  to  be 
the  mere  plaything  of  fortune  ;  his  degree  of  reputation  is  for  the  most 
part  totally  casual ;  they  that  employ  him  know  not  his  excellence ; 

Burlington-c^ardens, 


Aetat.  4o.j  yohnsori  s  friends  /;/    1752.  281 

Burlington  -  gardens,  with  whom  he  and  Mrs.  Williams  generally 
dined  every  Sunday.  There  was  a  talk  of  his  going  to  Iceland 
with  him,  which  would  probably  have  happened  had  he  lived. 
There  were  also  Mr.  Cave,  Dr.  Hawkesworth,  Mr.  Ryland',  mer- 
chant on  Tower  Hill,  Mrs.  Masters,  the  poetess\  who  lived  with 
Mr.  Cave,  Mrs.  Carter,  and  sometimes  Mrs.  Macaulay^  also  Mrs. 
Gardiner,  wife  of  a  tallow-chandler  on  Snow-hill,  not  in  the  learned 
way,  but  a  worthy  good  woman*;  Mr.  (now  Sir  Joshua)  Reynolds'; 
Mr,  Millar,  Mr.  Dodsley,  Mr.  Bouquet,  Mr.  Payne  of  Paternoster- 
row,  booksellers ;  Mr.  Strahan,  the  printer ;  the  Earl  of  Orrery', 
Lord  Southwell',  Mr.  Garrick.' 

Many  are,  no  doubt,  omitted  in  this  catalogue  of  his  friends, 
and,  in  particular,  his  humble  friend,  Mr.  Robert  Levet.  an  ob- 
scure practiser  in  physick  amongst  the  lower  people,  his  fees 
being  sometimes  very  small  sums,  sometimes  whatever  pro- 
visions his  patients  could  afford  him  ;  but  of  such  extensive 

they  that  reject  him  know  not  his  deficience.  By  any  acute  observer, 
who  had  looked  on  the  transactions  of  the  medical  world  for  half  a 
century,  a  very  curious  book  might  be  written  on  the  Fortune  of  Phy- 
sicia  ns.'      I  Vorks,  v  i  i  i .  47 1 . 

'  Mr.  Ryland  was  one  of  the  members  of  the  old  club  in  Ivy  Lane 
who  met  to  dine  in  1783.     Mr.  Payne  was  another,  {post,  end  of  1783). 

'  Johnson  revised  her  volumes  :  post,  under  Nov.  19,  1783. 

•  Catherine  Sawbridge,  sister  of  Mrs.  [}  Mr.]  Alderman  Sawbridge, 
was  born  in  1733 ;  but  it  was  not  till  1760  that  she  was  married  to  Dr. 
Macaulay.  a  physician ;  so  that  Barber's  account  was  incorrect  either 
in  date  or  name.  Croker.  For  Alderman  Sawbridge  see  post.  May 
17,  1778,  note. 

•  See  post,  under  Nov.  19,  1783.  Johnson  bequeathed  to  her  a  book 
to  keep  as  a  token  of  remembrance  (post,  Dec.  9,  1784).  I  find  her 
name  in  the  year  1765  in  the  list  of  subscribers  to  the  edition  of  Swift's 
Works,  in  17  vols.,  so  that  perhaps  she  was  more  '  in  the  learned  way ' 

than  Barber  thought. 

'  Reynolds  did  not  return  to  England  from  Italy  till  the  October 
of  this  year,  seven  months  after  Mrs.  Johnson's  death.  Taylor's  Rey- 
nolds, i.  87.  He  writes  of  his  'thirty  years'  intimacy  with  Dr.  John- 
son.' He  must  have  known  him  therefore  at  least  as  early  as  1754. 
Il>.  ii.  454. 

•  See  ante,  p.  214. 

'  '  Lord  Southwell,'  said  Johnson,  '  was  the  most  qualitied  man  I 
ever  saw,'    Post,  March  23,  1783. 

practice 


282  Robert  Level.  [a.u.  nsa 

practice  in  that  way,  that  Mrs.  Williams  has  told  me,  his 
walk  was  from  Hounsditch  to  Marybone.  It  appears  from 
Johnson's  diary  that  their  acquaintance  commenced  about 
the  year  1746;  and  such  was  Johnson's  predilection  for  him, 
and  fanciful  estimation  of  his  moderate  abilities,  that  I  have 
heard  him  say  he  should  not  be  satisfied,  though  attended  by 
all  the  College  of  Physicians,  unless  he  had  Mr.  Levet  with 
him.  Ever  since  I  was  acquainted  with  Dr.  Johnson,  and 
many  years  before,  as  I  have  been  assured  by  those  who  knew 
him  earlier,  Mr.  Levet  had  an  apartment  in  his  house,  or  his 
chambers,  and  waited  upon  him  every  morning,  through  the 
whole  course  of  his  late  and  tedious  breakfast.  He  was  of  a 
strange  grotesque  appearance,  stiff  and  formal  in  his  manner, 
and  seldom  said  a  word  while  any  company  was  present'. 


'  The  account  given  of  Levet  in  Gent.  Mag.  vl.  loi,  shews  that  he 
was  a  man  out  of  the  common  run.  He  would  not  otherwise  have 
attracted  the  notice  of  the  French  surgeons.  The  writer  says  : — '  Mr. 
Levet,  though  an  Englishman  by  birth,  became  early  in  life  a  waiter 
at  a  coffee-house  in  Paris.  The  surgeons  who  frequented  it,  finding 
him  of  an  inquisitive  turn  and  attentive  to  their  conversation,  made  a 
purse  for  him,  and  gave  him  some  mstructions  m  their  art.  They 
afterwards  furnished  him  with  the  means  of  other  knowledge,  by  pro- 
curing him  free  admission  to  such  lectures  in  pharmacy  and  anatomy 
Hs  were  read  by  the  ablest  professors  of  that  period.'  When  he  lived 
with  Johnson,  '  much  of  the  day  was  employed  in  attendance  on  his 
patients,  who  were  chiefly  of  the  lowest  rank  of  tradesmen.  The  re- 
mainder of  his  hours  he  dedicated  to  Hunter's  lectures,  and  to  as 
many  different  opportunities  of  improvement  as  he  could  meet  with 
on  the  same  gratuitous  conditions.'  '  All  his  medical  knowledge,"  said 
Johnson,  '  and  it  is  not  inconsiderable,  was  obtained  through  the  ear. 
Though  he  buys  books,  he  seldom  looks  into  them,  or  discovers  any 
power  by  which  he  can  be  supposed  to  judge  of  an  author's  merit.' 
'  Dr.  Johnson  has  frequently  observed  that  Levet  was  indebted  to  him 
for  nothing  more  than  house-room,  his  share  in  a  penny-loaf  at  break- 
fast, and  now  and  then  a  dinner  on  a  Sunday.  His  character  was 
rendered  valuable  by  repeated  proof  of  honesty,  tenderness,  and  grati- 
tude to  his  benefactor,  as  well  as  by  an  unwearied  diligence  in  his  pro- 
fession. His  single  failing  was  an  occasional  departure  from  sobriety. 
Johnson  would  observe,  "  he  was  perhaps  the  onlv  man  who  ever  be- 
came intoxicated  through  motives  of  prudence,     He  reflected  that,  if 

The 


Aetat.  43.]  Sir  Joshiia  Reynolds,  283 

The  circle  of  his  friends,  indeed,  at  this  time  was  extensive 
and  various,  far  beyond  what  has  been  generally  imagined. 
To  trace  his  acquaintance  with  each  particular  person,  if  it 
could  be  done,  would  be  a  task,  of  which  the  labour  would 
not  be  repaid  by  the  advantage.  But  exceptions  are  to  be 
made ;  one  of  which  must  be  a  friend  so  eminent  as  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,  who  was  truly  his  duke  decus\  and  with 
whom  he  maintained  an  uninterrupted  intimacy  to  the  last 
hour  of  his  life.  When  Johnson  lived  in  Castle-street,  Cav- 
endish-square, he  used  frequently  to  visit  two  ladies  who 

he  refused  the  gin  or  brandy  offered  him  by  some  of  his  patients,  he 
could  have  been  no  gainer  by  their  cure,  as  they  might  have  had 
nothing  else  to  bestow  on  him.  This  habit  of  taking  a  fee,  in  what- 
ever shape  it  was  exhibited,  could  not  be  put  off  by  advice.  He  would 
swallow  what  he  did  not  like,  nay  what  he  knew  would  injure  him, 
rather  than  go  home  with  an  idea  that  his  skill  had  been  exerted 
without  recompense.  Though  he  took  all  that  was  offered  him,  he 
demanded  nothing  from  the  poor."  '  The  writer  adds  that  'Johnson 
never  wished  him  to  be  regarded  as  an  inferior,  or  treated  him  like  a 
dependent.'  Mrs.  Piozzi  says  : — '  When  Johnson  raised  contributions 
for  some  distressed  author,  or  wit  in  want,  he  often  made  us  all  more 
than  amends  by  diverting  descriptions  of  the  lives  they  were  then 
passing  in  corners  unseen  by  anybody  but  himself,  and  that  odd  old 
surgeon  whom  he  kept  in  his  house  to  tend  the  out-pensioners,  and 
of  whom  he  said  most  truly  and  sublimely,  that 

"  In  misery's  darkest  caverns  known,"  '  etc. 

Piozzi's  Anec.  p.  118. 

'  Levet,  madam,  is  a  brutal  fellow,  but  I  have  a  good  regard  for  him  ; 
for  his  brutality  is  in  his  manners,  not  in  his  mind.'  Afme.  D' Arblay  s 
Diary,  i.  115.  '  Whoever  called  in  on  Johnson  at  about  midday  found 
him  and  Levet  at  breakfast,  Johnson,  in  deshabille,  as  just  risen  from 
bed,  and  Levet  filling  out  tea  for  himself  and  his  patron  alternately, 
no  conversation  passing  between  them.  All  that  visited  him  at  these 
hours  were  welcome.  A  night's  rest  and  breakfast  seldom  failed  to 
refresh  and  fit  him  for  discourse,  and  whoever  withdrew  went  too 
soon.'     Hawkins's  Johnson,  p.  435. 

How  much  he  valued  his  poor  friend  hq  showed  at  his  death,  ^oj/, 
Jan.  20,  1782. 

'  '  O  et  praesidium  et  dulce  decus  meum.' 

'  My  joy,  my  guard,  and  sweetest  good.' 

Creech.  Horace,  Od^s,  i.  i.  2. 
lived 


284  One  of  'Dr.  yohnsons  school!        [a. d.  1752. 

lived  opposite  to  him,  Miss  Cotterells,  daughters  of  Admiral 
Cotterell.  Reynolds  used  also  to  visit  there,  and  thus  they 
met'.  Mr.  Reynolds,  as  I  have  observed  above^  had,  from 
the  first  reading  of  his  Life  0/  Savage,  conceived  a  very  high 
admiration  of  Johnson's  powers  of  writing.  His  conversation 
no  less  delighted  him  ;  and  he  cultivated  his  acquaintance 
with  the  laudable  /.eal  of  one  who  was  ambitious  of  general 
improvement^    Sir  Joshua,  indeed,  was  lucky  enough  at  their 

'  It  was  in  1738  that  Johnson  was  living  in  Castle  Street.  At  the 
time  of  Reynolds's  arrival  in  London  in  1752  he  had  been  living  for 
some  years  in  Gough  Square.  Boswell,  I  suppose,  only  means  to  say 
that  Johnson  s  acquaintance  with  the  Cotterells  was  formed  when  he 
lived  in  their  neighbourhood.  Northcote  (Z//>  0/  Rt-ymolds,  i.  69)  says 
that  the  Cotterells  lived  'opposite  to  Reynolds's."  but  his  account 
seems  based  on  a  misunderstanding  of  Boswell. 

*  Ante.  p.  191. 

'  'We  are  both  of  Dr.  Johnson's  school.' wrote  Reynolds  to  some 
friend.  '  For  my  own  part.  I  acknowledge  the  highest  obligations  to 
him.  He  may  be  said  to  have  formed  my  mind,  and  to  have  brushed 
from  it  a  great  deal  of  rubbish.  Those  very  persons  whom  he  has 
brought  to  think  rightly  will  occasionally  criticise  the  opinions  of 
their  master  when  he  nods.  But  we  should  always  recollect  that  it 
is  he  himself  who  taught  us  and  enabled  us  to  do  it."  Taylor's  Rey- 
nolds, ii.  461.  Burke,  writing  to  Malone.  said  :— '  You  state  very  prop- 
erly how  much  Reynolds  owed  to  the  writings  and  conversation  of 
Johnson  ;  and  nothing  shews  more  the  greatness  of  Sir  Joshua's  parts 
than  his  taking  advantage  of  both,  and  making  some  application  of 
them  to  his  profession,  when  Johnson  neither  understood  nor  desired 
to  understand  anything  of  painting.'  lb.  p.  638.  Reynolds,  there  can 
be  little  question,  is  thinking  of  Johnson  in  the  following  passage  in 
his  Sex'enth  Discourse : — '  What  partial  and  desultory  reading  cannot 
afford  may  be  supplied  by  the  conversation  of  learned  and  ingenious 
men,  which  is  the  best  of  all  substitutes  for  those  who  have  not  the 
means  or  opportunities  of  deep  study.  There  are  many  such  men  in 
this  age:  and  they  will  be  pleased  with  communicating  their  ideas  to 
artists,  when  they  see  them  curious  and  docile,  if  they  are  treated 
with  that  respect  and  deference  which  is  so  justly  their  due.  Into 
such  society  young  artists,  if  they  make  it  the  point  of  their  ambition, 
will  by  degrees  be  admitted.  There,  without  formal  teaching,  they 
will  insensibly  come  to  feel  and  reason  like  those  they  live  with,  and 
find  a  rational  and  systematic  taste  imperceptibly  formed  in  their 
minds,  which  they  will  know  how  to  reduce  to  a  standard,  by  apply- 

verv 


Aetat.43.]  The  Miss  Cotterells.  285 

very  first  meeting  to  make  a  remark,  which  was  so  much 
above  the  common-place  style  of  conversation,  that  Johnson 
at  once  perceived  that  Reynolds  had  the  habit  of  thinking  for 
himself.  The  ladies  were  regretting  the  death  of  a  friend,  to 
whom  they  owed  great  obligations ;  upon  which  Reynolds 
observed,  'You  have,  however,  the  comfort  of  being  relieved 
from  a  burthen  of  gratitude'.'  They  were  shocked  a  little 
at  this  alleviating  suggestion,  as  too  selfish,  but  Johnson  de- 
fended it  in  his  clear  and  forcible  manner,  and  was  much 
pleased  with  the  7nind,  the  fair  view  of  human  nature,  which 
it  exhibited,  like  some  of  the  reflections  of  Rochefaucault. 
The  consequence  was  that  he  went  home  with  Reynolds,  and 
supped  with  him. 

Sir  Joshua  told  me  a  pleasant  characteristical  anecdote 
of  Johnson  about  the  time  of  their  first  acquaintance. 
When  they  were  one  evening  together  at  the  Miss  Cot- 
terells', the  then  Duchess  of  Argyle  and  another  lady  of 
high  rank  came  in.  Johnson  thinking  that  the  Miss  Cot- 
terells were  too  much  engrossed  by  them,  and  that  he  and 
his  friend  were  neglected,  as  low  company  of  whom  they 
were  somewhat  ashamed,  grew  angry ;  and  resolving  to 
shock  their  supposed  pride,  by  making  their  great  visitors 

ing  general  truth  to  their  own  purposes,  better  perhaps  than  those 
to  whom  they  owned  [?  owed]  the  original  sentiment.'  Reynolds's 
Works,  edit.  1824,  i.  149.  'Another  thing  remarkable  to  shew  how 
little  Sir  Joshua  crouched  to  the  great  is,  that  he  never  gave  them 
their  proper  titles.  I  never  heard  the  words  "  your  lordship  "  or  "  your 
ladyship"  come  from  his  mouth  ;  nor  did  he  ever  say  "  Sir  "  in  speak- 
ing to  any  one  but  Dr.  Johnson  ;  and  when  he  did  not  hear  distinctly 
what  the  latter  said  (which  often  happened)  he  would  then  say  "  Sir.'" 
that  he  might  repeat  it.'  Northcote's  Conversations,  p.  289.  Gibbon 
called  Johnson  '  Reynolds's  oracle.'  Gibbon's  Misc.  Works,  i.  149. 
See  2\%o  post,  under  Dec.  29,  1778. 

'  The  thought  may  have  been  suggested  to  Reynolds  by  Johnson's 
writings.  In  The  Rambler,  No.  87,  he  had  said  :— '  There  are  minds 
so  impatient  of  inferiority,  that  their  gratitude  is  a  species  of  revenge, 
and  they  return  benefits,  not  because  recompense  is  a  pleasure,  but 
because  obligation  is  a  pain.'  In  No.  166,  he  says  : — '  To  be  obliged  is 
to  be  in  some  respect  inferior  to  another." 

imagine 


286  Bennet  Langton.  [a.d.  1752. 


imagine  that  his  friend  and  he  were  low  indeed,  he  addressed 
himself  in  a  loud  tone  to  Mr.  Reynolds,  saying,  *  How  much 
do  you  think  you  and  I  could  get  in  a  week,  if  we  were  to 
work  as  hard  as  we  could  ?' — as  if  they  had  been  common 
mechanicks'. 

His  acquaintance  with  Bennet  Langton,  Esq.  of  Langton, 
in  Lincolnshire,  another  much  valued  friend,  commenced 
soon  after  the  conclusion  of  his  Rambler ;  which  that  gentle- 
man, then  a  youth,  had  read  with  so  much  admiration,  that 
he  came  to  London  chiefly  with  the  view  of  endeavouring 
to  be  introduced  to  its  authourV  By  a  fortunate  chance  he 
happened  to  take  lodgings  in  a  house  where  Mr.  Levet 
frequently  visited  ;  and  having  mentioned  his  wish  to  his 
landlady,  she  introduced  him  to  Mr.  Levet,  who  readily 
obtained  Johnson's  permission  to  bring  Mr.  Langton  to 
him' ;  as,  indeed,  Johnson,  during  the  whole  course  of  his 
life,  had  no  shyness,  real  or  affected,  but  was  easy  of  access 
to  all  who  were  properly  recommended,  and  even  wished 


'  Northcote  tells  the  following  story  on  the  authority  of  Miss  Rey- 
nolds. It  is  to  be  noticed,  however,  that  in  her  RecolUitions  (Croker's 
Boswell,  p.  832)  the  story  is  told  somewhat  differently.  Johnson, 
Reynolds  and  Miss  Reynolds  one  day  called  on  the  Miss  Cotterells. 
'  Johnson  was  the  last  of  the  three  that  came  in  ;  when  the  maid,  see- 
ing this  uncouth  and  dirty  figure  of  a  man,  and  not  conceiving  he 
could  be  one  of  the  company,  laid  hold  of  his  coat,  just  as  he  was 
going  up-stairs,  and  pulled  him  back,  saying,  "  You  fellow,  what  is 
your  business  here  ?  I  suppose  you  intended  to  rob  the  house." 
This  mo.st  unlucky  accident  threw  him  into  such  a  fit  of  shame  and 
anger  that  he  roared  out  like  a  bull.  "  What  have  I  done  }  What  have 
I  done  }"  '     Northcote's  Reynolds,  i.  73. 

'  Johnson  writing  to  Langton  on  January  9.  1759,  describes  him  as 
'towering  in  the  confidence  of  twenty-one.'  The  conclusion  of  The 
Rambler  was  in  March  1752,  when  Langton  must  have  been  only  four- 
teen or  just  fifteen  at  most ;  Johnson's  first  letter  to  him  dated  May 
6,  1755,  shews  that  at  that  time  their  acquaintance  had  been  but  short. 
Lang^on's  subscription  to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  in  the  Register  of 
the  University  of  Oxford  was  on  July  7,  1757.  Johnson's  first  letter  to 
him  at  Oxford  is  dated  June  28,  1757. 

*  Stcpos/,  March  20,  1782. 

to 


Aetat.43.]  Topham  Beauclerk.  287 

to  sec  numbers  at  his  Uvee\  as  his  morning  circle  of  com- 
pany might,  with  strict  propriety,  be  called.  Mr.  Langton 
was  exceedingly  surprised  when  the  sage  first  appeared. 
He  had  not  received  the  smallest  intimation  of  his  figure, 
dress,  or  manner.  From  perusing  his  writings,  he  fancied 
he  should  see  a  decent,  well-drest,  in  short,  a  remarkably 
decorous  philosopher.  Instead  of  which,  down  from  his 
bedchamber,  about  noon,  came,  as  newly  risen,  a  huge  un- 
couth figure,  with  a  little  dark  wig  which  scarcely  covered 
his  head,  and  his  clothes  hanging  loose  about  him.  But  his 
conversation  was  so  rich,  so  animated,  and  so  forcible,  and 
his  religious  and  political  notions  so  congenial  with  those  in 
which  Langton  had  been  educated,  that  he  conceived  for 
him  that  veneration  and  attachment  which  he  ever  pre- 
served. Johnson  was  not  the  less  ready  to  love  Mr.  Lang- 
ton, for  his  being  of  a  very  ancient  family;  for  I  have  heard 
him  say,  with  pleasure,  '  Langton,  Sir,  has  a  grant  of  free 
warren  from  Henry  the  Second ;  and  Cardinal  Stephen 
Langton,  in  King  John's  reign,  was  of  this  family'.' 

Mr.  Langton  afterwards  went  to  pursue  his  studies  at 
Trinity  College,  Oxford,  where  he  formed  an  acquaintance 
with    his    fellow    student,   Mr.  Topham    Beauclerk'  ,    who, 

'  'My  friend  Maltby  and  I,' said  Samuel  Rogers,  'when  we  were 
very  young  men,  had  a  strong  desire  to  see  Dr.  Johnson  ;  and  we  de- 
termined to  call  upon  him.  and  introduce  ourselves.  We  accordingly 
proceeded  to  his  house  in  Bolt  Court ;  and  I  had  my  hand  on  the 
knocker  when  our  courage  failed  us,  and  we  retreated.  Many  years 
afterwards  I  mentioned  this  circumstance  to  Boswell,  who  said, "  What 
a  pity  that  you  did  not  go  boldly  in  I  he  would  have  received  you 
with  all  kindness.'"  Rogers's  Tabic  Talk,Y>-9-  For  Johnson's  levee 
8ee/(7j/,  1770,  in  Dr.  Maxwell's  Collectanea. 

'  'George  Langton,'  writes  Mr.  Best  in  his  Memorials  (p.  66), 
'shewed  me  his  pedigree  with  the  names  and  arms  of  the  families 
with  which  his  own  had  intermarried.  It  was  engrossed  on  a  piece 
of  parchment  about  ten  inches  broad,  and  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  long. 
"  It  leaves  oft  at  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,"  said  he.' 

*  Topham  Beauclerk  was  the  only  son  of  Lord  Sidney  Beauclerk, 
fifth  son  of  the  first  Duke  of  St.  Alban's.  He  was  therefore  the  great- 
grandson  of  Charles  II.  and  Nell  Gwynne.     He  was  born  in  Dec.  1739. 

though 


288  Topham  Beauclerk.  [a.d.  1752. 

though  their  opinions  and  modes  of  life  were  so  different, 
that  it  seemed  utterly  improbable  that  they  should  at  all 
agree,  had  so  ardent  a  love  of  literature,  so  acute  an  under- 
standing, such  elegance  of  manners,  and  so  well  discerned 
the  excellent  qualities  of  Mr.  Langton,  a  gentleman  eminent 
not  only  for  worth  and  learning,  but  for  an  inexhaustible 
fund  of  entertaining  conversation',  that  they  became  inti- 
mate friends. 

Johnson,  soon  after  their  acquaintance  began,  passed  a 
considerable  time  at  Oxford'.  Ho  at  first  thought  it  strange 
that  Langton  should  associate  so  much  with  one  who  had 
the  character  of  being  loose,  both  in  his  principles  and  prac- 
tice;  but,  by  degrees,  he  himself  was  fascinated.  Mr,  Beau- 
clerk's  being  of  the  St.  Alban's  family,  and  having,  in  some 
particulars,  a  resemblance  to  Charles  the  Second,  contributed, 
in  Johnson's  imagination,  to  throw  a  lustre  upon  his  other 
qualities';   and,  in  a  short  time,  the  moral,  pious  Johnson, 

In  my  Dr.  Johnson :  His  Friends  and  his  Critics  I  have  put  together 
such  facts  as  1  could  find  about  Langton  and  Beauclerk. 

'  Mr.  Best  describes  Langton  as  '  a  very  tall,  meagre,  long-visaged 
man,  much  resembling  a  stork  standing  on  one  leg  near  the  shore  in 
Raphael's  cartoon  of  the  Miraculous  Draught  of  Fishes.  His  man- 
ners were,  in  the  highest  degree,  polished  ;  his  conv^ersation  mild, 
equable  and  always  pleasing.'  Best's  Memorials,  p.  62.  Miss  Haw- 
kins writes  • — '  If  I  were  called  on  to  name  the  person  with  whom 
Johnson  might  have  been  seen  to  the  fairest  advantage,  I  should  cer- 
tainly name  Mr.  Langton.'  Miss  Hawkins's  Memoirs,  i.  144.  Mrs. 
Piozzi  wrote  in  1817: — 'I  remember  when  to  have  Langton  at  a 
man's  house  stamped  him  at  once  a  literar)-  character.'  Hayward's 
Piozzi,  ii.  203. 

'  In  the  summer  of  1759.     Ste  fiosi,  under  April  15,  1758,  and  1759. 

'  Lord  Charlemont  said  that  '  Beauclerk  possessed  an  exquisite 
taste,  various  accomplishments,  and  the  most  perfect  good  breeding. 
He  was  eccentric,  often  querulous,  entertaining  a  contempt  for  the 
generality  of  the  world,  which  the  politeness  of  his  manners  could 
not  always  conceal ;  but  to  those  whom  he  liked  most  generous  and 
friendly.  Devoted  at  one  time  to  pleasure,  at  another  to  literature, 
sometimes  absorbed  in  play,  sometimes  in  books,  he  was  altogether 
one  of  the  most  accomplished,  and  when  in  good  humour  and  sur- 
rounded by  those  who  suited  his  fancy,  one  of  the  most  agreeable 

and 


Aetat.  43.]      Beauclevk's  propensity  to  satire.  289 

and  the  gay,  dissipated  Beauclerk,  were  companions.  '  What 
a  coalition  !  (said  Garrick,  when  he  heard  of  this ;)  I  shall 
have  my  old  friend  to  bail  out  of  the  Round-house'.'  But  I 
can  bear  testimony  that  it  was  a  very  agreeable  association. 
Beauclerk  was  too  polite,  and  valued  learning  and  wit  too 
much,  to  offend  Johnson  by  sallies  of  infidelity  or  licentious- 
ness ;  and  Johnson  delighted  in  the  good  qualities  of  Beau- 
clerk, and  hoped  to  correct  the  evil.  Innumerable  were  the 
scenes  in  which  Johnson  was  amused  by  these  young  men. 
Beauclerk  could  take  more  libert}-  with  him,  than  any  body 
with  whom  I  ever  saw  him  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  Beau- 
clerk was  not  spared  by  his  respectable  companion,  when  re- 
proof was  proper.  Beauclerk  had  such  a  propensity  to 
satire,  that  at  one  time  Johnson  said  to  him,  *  You  never 
open  your  mouth  but  with  intention  to  give  pain ;  and  you 
have  often  given  me  pain,  not  from  the  power  of  what  you 
said,  but  from  seeing  your  intention.'  At  another  time 
applying  to  him,  with  a  slight  alteration,  a  line  of  Pope,  he 

said 

'Thy  love  of  folly,  and  thy  scorn  of  fools — '■' 

Every  thing  thou  dost  shews  the  one,  and  every  thing  thou 
say'st  the   other.'     At  another  time  he  said  to  him,  '  Thy 

men  that  could  possibly  exist.'  Lord  Charlemont's  Life,  i.  210.  Haw- 
kins writes  {Life,  p.  422)  that  '  over  all  his  behaviour  there  beamed 
such  a  sunshine  of  cheerfulness  and  good-humour  as  communicated 
itself  to  all  around  him.'  Mrs.  Piozzi  said  of  him  . — '  Topham  Beau- 
clerk (wicked  and  profligate  as  he  wished  to  be  accounted)  was  yet  a 
man  of  very  strict  veracity.  Oh  Lord  '  how  I  did  hate  that  horrid 
Beauclerk.'  Hayward's  Piozzi,  i.  348.  Rogers  {Table-  Talk,  p.  40)  said 
that  '  Beauclerk  was  a  strangely  absent  person.'  He  once  went  to 
dress  for  a  dinner-party  in  his  own  house.  '  He  forgot  all  about  his 
guests;  thought  that  it  was  bed-time,  and  got  into  bed.  His  servant, 
coming  to  tell  him  that  his  guests  were  waiting  for  him,  found  him 
fast  asleep.' 

'  It  was  to  the  Round-house  that  Captain  Booth  was  first  taken  in 
Fielding's  Amelia,  Book  i,  chap.  2. 

•  '  Blends,  in  exception  to  all  general  rules, 

Your  taste  of  follies  with  our  scorn  of  fools.* 

Pope,  Moral  Essays,  h*.  275. 
I.— 19  body 


290  yohnso7i  the  Idle  Apprentice.         [a.d.  1752. 


body  is  all  vice,  and  thy  mind  all  virtue.'  Beauclerk  not 
seeming  to  relish  the  compliment,  Johnson  said,  '  Nay,  Sir, 
Alexander  the  Great,  marching  in  triumph  into  Babylon, 
could  not  have  desired  to  have  had  more  said  to  him.' 

Johnson  was  some  time  with  Beauclerk  at  his  house  at 
Windsor,  where  he  was  entertained  with  experiments  in 
natural  philosophy'.  One  Sunday,  when  the  weather  was 
ver>'  fine,  Beauclerk  enticed  him,  insensibly,  to  saunter  about 
all  the  morning.  They  went  into  a  church-yard,  in  the  time 
of  divine  service,  and  Johnson  laid  himself  down  at  his  ease 
upon  one  of  the  tomb-stones.  '  Now,  Sir,  (said  Beauclerk) 
you  are  like  Hogarth's  Idle  Apprentice.'  When  Johnson 
got  his  pension,  Beauclerk  said  to  him,  in  the  humorous 
phrase  of  Falstaff,  '  I  hope  you'll  now  purge  and  live  cleanly 
like  a  gentleman*.' 

One  night  when  Beauclerk  and  Langton  had  supped  at  a 
tavern  in  London,  and  sat  till  about  three  in  the  morning, 
it  came  into  their  heads  to  go  and  knock  up  Johnson,  and 
see  if  they  could  prevail  on  him  to  join  them  in  a  ramble. 
They  rapped  violently  at  the  door  of  his  chambers  in  the 
Temple,  till  at  last  he  appeared  in  his  shirt,  with  his  little 
black  wig  on  the  top  of  his  head,  instead  of  a  nightcap, 
and  a  poker  in  his  hand,  imagining,  probably,  that  some 
ruffians  were  coming  to  attack  him.  When  he  discovered 
who  they  were,  and  was  told  their  errand,  he  smiled,  and 
with  great  good  humour  agreed  to  their  proposal :  '  What, 
is  it  you,  you  dogs!  I'll  have  a  frisk  with  you.'  He  was 
soon   drest,  and    they   sallied    forth   together  into  Covent- 

*  In  the  college  which  Thf  Club  was  to  set  up  at  St.  Andrew's, 
Beauclerk  was  to  have  the  chair  of  natural  philosophy.  Boswell's 
Hebrides,  Aug.  25,  1773.  Goldsmith,  writing  to  Langton  in  1771,  says: 
— '  Mr.  Beauclerk  is  now  going  directly  forward  to  become  a  second 
Boyle;  deep  in  chymistry  and  physics."  Forster's  Goldsmith,  11.283. 
Boswell  described  to  Temple,  in  1775,  Beauclerk 's  villa  at  Muswell 
Hill,  with  its  'observatory,  laboratory  for  chymical  experimei.ts.'  Bos- 
well's Letters,  p.  194. 

•  'I'll  purge,  and  leave  sack,  and  live  cleanly  as  a  nobleman  should 
do.'     \  Henry  IV.  Act  v.  sc.  4. 

Garden, 


Aetat.44.]  A  frisk  with  Beauclerk  ajid  Langton.      291 

Garden,  where  the  greengrocers  and  fruiterers  were  begin- 
ning to  arrange  their  hampers,  just  come  in  from  the  coun- 
try. Johnson  made  some  attempts  to  help  them  ;  but  the 
honest  gardeners  stared  so  at  his  figure  and  manner,  and 
odd  interference,  that  he  soon  saw  his  services  were  not 
relished.  They  then  repaired  to  one  of  the  neighbouring 
taverns,  and  made  a  bowl  of  that  liquor  called  Bishop\ 
which  Johnson  had  always  liked  ;  while  in  joyous  contempt 
of  sleep,  from  which  he  had  been  roused,  he  repeated  the 
festive  lines, 

'  Short,  O  short  then  be  thy  reign. 
And  give  us  to  the  world  again^ !' 

They  did  not  stay  long,  but  walked  down  to  the  Thames, 
took  a  boat,  and  rowed  to  Billingsgate.  Beauclerk  and 
Johnson  were  so  well  pleased  with  their  amusement,  that 
they  resolved  to  persevere  in  dissipation  for  the  rest  of  the 
day :  but  Langton  deserted  them,  being  engaged  to  break- 
fast with  some  young  Ladies.  Johnson  scolded  him  for 
'  leaving  his  social  friends,  to  go  and  sit  with  a  set  of 
wretched  tin-idea  d  girls.'  Garrick  being  told  of  this  ram- 
ble, said  to  him  smartly,  '  I  heard  of  your  frolick  t'other 
night.  You'll  be  in  the  Chronicle.'  Upon  which  Johnson 
afterwards  observed,'//^  durst  not  do  such  a  thing.  His 
wife  would  not  let  him ! ' 

1753:  iETAT.  44.] — He  entered  upon  this  year  1753  with 
his  usual  piety,  as  appears  from  the  following  prayer,  which 

'  'Bishop.  A  cant  word  for  a  mixture  of  wine,  oranges,  and  sugar." 
Johnson's  Dictionary. 

*  Mr.  Langton  has  recollected,  or  Dr.  Johnson  repeated,  the  passage 
wrong.  The  lines  are  in  Lord  Lansdowne's  Drinking  Song  to  Sleep, 
and  run  thus : — 

'  Short,  very  short  be  then  thy  reign, 
For  I'm  in  haste  to  laugh  and  drink  again.' 

BOSWELL. 

Lord  Lansdowne  was  the  Granville  of  Pope's  couplet — 
•  But  why  then  publish  ?  Granville  the  polite. 
And  knowing  Walsh,  would  tell  me  I  could  write.' 

Prologue  to  the  Satires,  1.  135. 
I  transcribed 


292  The  Adventurer,  [a.d.  1768. 

I  transcribed  from  that  part  of  his  diary  which  he  burnt  a 
few  days  before  his  death'  : 

'Jan.  I,  1753,  N.  S.  which  I  shall  use  for  the  future. 

'  Almighty  God,  who  hast  continued  my  life  to  this  day,  grant 
that,  by  the  assistance  of  thy  Holy  Spirit,  I  may  improve  the  time 
which  thou  shalt  grant  me,  to  my  eternal  salvation.  Make  me  to 
remember,  to  thy  glory,  thy  judgements  and  thy  mercies.  Make 
me  so  to  consider  the  loss  of  my  wife,  whom  thou  hast  taken  from 
me,  that  it  may  dispose  me,  by  thy  grace,  to  lead  the  residue  of  my 
life  in  thy  fear.  Grant  this,  O  Lord,  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake. 
Amen.' 

He  now  relieved  the  drudgery  of  his  Dictionary,  and  the 
melancholy  of  his  grief,  by  taking  an  active  part  in  the 
composition  of  The  Adventurer,  in  which  he  began  to  write 
April  10',  marking  his  essays  with  the  signature  T',  by  which 
most  of  his  papers  in  that  collection  are  distinguished : 
those,  however,  which  have  that  signature  and  also  that  of 
Mysargyrus,  were  not  written  by  him,  but,  as  I  suppose,  by 
Dr.  Bathurst.  Indeed  Johnson's  energy  of  thought  and  rich- 
ness of  language,  are  still  more  decisive  marks  than  any 
signature.  As  a  proof  of  this,  my  readers,  I  imagine,  will 
not  doubt  that  Number  39,  on  sleep,  is  his ;  for  it  not  only 

'  Boswell  in  his  Hebrides  (Aug.  i8,  1773)  says  that  Johnson,  on  start- 
ing from  Edinburgh,  left  behind  in  an  open  drawer  in  Boswell's  house 
'  one  volume  of  a  pretty  full  and  curious  Diary  of  his  life,  of  which  I 
have  a  few  fragments.'  He  also  states  {post,  under  Dec.  9,  1784) : — '  I 
owned  to  hmi,  that  having  accidentally  seen  them  [two  quarto  vol- 
umes of  his  Lz/e]  I  had  read  a  great  deal  in  them.'  It  would  seem 
that  he  had  also  transcribed  a  portion. 

*  This  is  inconsistent  with  what  immediately  follows,  for  No.  39  on 
Sleep  was  published  on  March  20. 

'  Hawkesworth  in  the  last  number  of  The  Adventurer  says  that  he 
had  help  at  first  from  A. ;  '  but  this  resource  soon  failing,  1  was  obliged 
to  carry  on  the  publication  alone,  except  some  casual  supplies,  till  I 
obtained  from  the  gentlemen  who  have  distinguished  their  papers  by 
T  and  Z,  such  assistance  as  I  most  wished."  In  a  note  he  says  that 
the  papers  signed  Z  are  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Warton.  The  papers  signed 
A  are  written  in  a  light  style.  In  Southey's  Cint'Per,  i.  47,  it  is  said 
that  Bonnell  Thornton  wrote  them. 

has 


Aetat.  44.]  A  letter  to  Dr.  War  ton.  293 

has  the  general  texture  and  colour  of  his  style,  but  the 
authours  with  whom  he  was  peculiarly  conversant  are 
readily  introduced  in  it  in  cursory  allusion.  The  translation 
of  a  passage  in  Statius'  quoted  in  that  paper,  and  marked 
C.  B.  has  been  erroneously  ascribed  to  Dr.  Bathurst,  whose 
Christian  name  was  Richard.  How  much  this  amiable  man 
actually  contributed  to  TIic  Adventurer,  cannot  be  known. 
Let  me  add,  that  Hawkesworth's  imitations  of  Johnson  are 
sometimes  so  happy,  that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  distin- 
guish them,  with  certainty,  from  the  compositions  of  his 
great  archetype.  Hawkesworth  was  his  closest  imitator,  a 
circumstance  of  which  that  writer  would  once  have  been 
proud  to  be  told  ;  though,  when  he  had  become  elated  by 
having  risen  into  some  degree  of  consequence,  he,  in  a  con- 
versation with  me,  had  the  provoking  effrontery  to  say  he 
was  not  sensible  of  it". 

Johnson  was  truly  zealous  for  the  success  of  TJie  Ad- 
venturer ;  and  very  soon  after  his  engaging  in  it,  he  wrote 
the  following  letter  : 

*To  THE  Reverend  Dr.  Joseph  Warton. 
'Dear  Sir, 

'  I  ought  to  have  written  to  you  before  now,  but  I  ought  to  do 
many  things  which  I  do  not ;  nor  can  1,  indeed,  claim  any  merit 
from  this  letter ;  for  being  desired  by  the  authours  and  proprietor 
of  The  Adventurer  to  look  out  for  another  hand,  my  thoughts 
necessarily  fixed  upon  you,  whose  fund  of  literature  will  enable  you 
to  assist  them,  with  very  little  interruption  of  your  studies. 

They  desire  you  to  engage  to  furnish  one  paper  a  month,  at  two 

'  Boswell  had  read  the  passage  carelessly.  Statius  is  mentioned, 
but  the  writer  goes  on  to  quote  Cowley,  whose  Latin  lines  C.  B.  has 
translated.     Johnson's  Works,  iv.  10. 

'  Malone  says  that  'Johnson  was  fond  of  him,  but  latterly  owned 
that  Hawkesworth — who  had  set  out  a  modest,  humble  man  —  was 
one  of  the  many  whom  success  in  the  world  had  spoiled.  He  was 
latterly,  as  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  told  me,  an  affected  insincere  man, 
and  a  great  coxcomb  in  his  dress.  He  had  no  literature  whatever.' 
Prior's  Malone,  p.  441.  See  post,  April  11  and  May  7,  1773,  and  Bos- 
well's  Hebrides,  Oct.  3. 

guineas 


294  The  yohnson-BatJnirst  papers.       i  ad.  1753. 


guineas  a  paper,  which  you  may  very  readily  perform.  We  have 
considered  that  a  paper  should  consi.st  of  piece.s  of  imagination, 
pictures  of  life,  and  disquisitions  of  literature.  The  part  which 
depends  on  the  imagination  is  very  well  supplied,  as  you  will  find 
when  you  read  the  paper  ;  for  descriptions  of  life,  there  is  now  a 
treaty  almost  made  with  an  aulhour  and  an  authouress  ;  and  the 
province  of  criticism  and  literature  they  are  very  desirous  to  assign 
to  the  commentator  on  Virgil. 

'  I  hope  this  proposal  will  not  be  rejected,  and  that  the  ne.xt  post 
will  bring  us  your  compliance.  I  speak  as  one  of  the  fraternity, 
though  I  have  no  part  in  the  paper,  beyond  now  and  then  a  motto  ; 
but  two  of  the  writers  are  my  particular  friends,  and  I  hope  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  a  third  united  to  them,  will  not  be  denied  to, 
dear  Sir,  '  Your  most  obedient, 

'  And  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

•March  8,  1753.' 

The  consequence  of  this  letter  was,  Dr.  Warton's  enrich- 
ing the  collection  with  several  admirable  essays. 

Johnson's  saying  *  I  have  no  part  in  the  paper  beyond 
now  and  then  a  motto,'  may  seem  inconsistent  with  his  being 
the  authour  of  the  papers  marked  T.  Hut  he  had,  at  this 
time,  written  only  one  number'  ;  and  besides,  even  at  any 
after  period,  he  might  have  used  the  same  expression,  con- 
sidering it  as  a  point  of  honour  not  to  own  them  ;  for  Mrs. 
Williams  told  me  that, '  as  he  had  given  tho.se  Essays  to  Dr. 
Bathurst,  who  sold  them  at  two  guineas  each,  he  never  would 

'  Johnson's  statement  to  Warton  is  definite  and  is  borne  out  by  in- 
ternal evidence,  if  internal  evidence  can  be  needful  when  he  had  once 
made  a  definite  statement.  The  papers  signed  Misari^yriis,  the  first 
of  which  appeared  on  March  3.  are  all  below  his  style.  They  were 
not,  I  feel  sure,  written  by  him.  and  are  improperly  given  in  the  Ox- 
ford edition  of  his  works.  I  do  not  find  in  them  even  any  traces  of 
his  hand.  The  paper  on  Sleep,  No.  39,  is,  I  am  almost  sure,  partly 
his,  but  I  believe  it  is  not  wholly.  In  the  frequency  of  quotations  in 
the  first  part  of  it  I  see  another,  and  probably  a  younger  author.  The 
passage  on  the  '  low  drudgery  of  digesting  dictionaries  '  is  almost  cer- 
tainly his.  Dr.  Bathurst.  perhaps,  wrote  the  Essay,  and  Johnson  cor- 
rected it.  Whether  it  was  Johnson's  or  not.  it  was  published  after  the 
letter  to  Dr.  Warton  was  written. 

own 


Aetat.44.]  Literary  children.  295 

own  them  ;  nay,  he  used  to  say  he  did  not  ivrite  them  :  but 
the  fact  was,  that  he  dictated  them,  while  Bathurst  wrote.' 
I  read  to  him  Mrs.  Williams's  account ;  he  smiled,  and  said 
nothing'. 

I  am  not  quite  satisfied  with  the  casuistry  by  which  the 
productions  of  one  person  are  thus  passed  upon  the  world 
for  the  productions  of  another.  I  allow  that  not  only 
knowledge,  but  powers  and  qualities  of  mind  may  be  com- 
municated ;  but  the  actual  effect  of  individual  exertion 
never  can  be  transferred,  with  truth,  to  any  other  than  its 
own  original  cause.  One  person's  child  may  be  made  the 
child  of  another  person  by  adoption,  as  among  the  Romans, 
or  by  the  ancient  Jewish  mode  of  a  wife  having  children 
born  to  her  upon  her  knees,  by  her  handmaid.  But  these 
were  children  in  a  different  sense  from  that  of  nature.  It 
was  clearly  understood  that  they  were  not  of  the  blood  of 
their  nominal  parents.  So  in  literary  children,  an  authour 
may  give  the  profits  and  fame  of  his  composition  to  another 
man,  but  cannot  make  that  other  the  real  authour.  A  High- 
land gentleman,  a  younger  branch  of  a  family,  once  consult- 
ed me  if  he  could  not  validly  purchase  the  Chieftainship  of 
his  family,  from  the  Chief  who  was  willing  to  sell  it.  I  told 
him  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  acquire,  by  purchase,  a 
right  to  be  a  different  person  from  what  he  really  was  ;  for 
that  the  right  of  Chieftainship  attached  to  the  blood  of 
primogeniture,  and,  therefore,  was  incapable  of  being  trans- 
ferred. I  added,  that  though  Esau  sold  his  birth-right,  or 
the  advantages  belonging  to  it,  he  still  remained  the  first- 
born of  his  parents ;  and  that  whatever  agreement  a  Chief 
might  make  with  any  of  the  clan,  the  Herald's  Ofifice  could 
not  admit  of  the  metamorphosis,  or  with  any  decency  at- 
test that  the  younger  was  the  elder ;  but  I  did  not  convince 
the  worthy  gentleman. 

Johnson's  papers  in  TJie  Adventurer  are  very  similar  to 
those  of  Tlie  Rambler ;  but  being  rather  more  varied  in  their 

»  See  post,  April  25,  1778,  for  an  instance  where  Johnson's  silence 
did  not  imply  assent. 

subjects, 


296  Mrs.  Le7inox.  [a. d.  1754. 

subjects,  and  being  mixed  with  essays  by  other  writers,  upon 
topicks  more  generally  attractive  than  even  the  most  elegant 
ethical  discourses,  the  sale  of  the  work,  at  first,  was  more  ex- 
tensive. Without  meaning,  however,  to  depreciate  The  Ad- 
venturer, I  must  observe  that  as  the  \'alue  of  Tlic  Rambler 
came,  in  the  progress  of  time,  to  be  better  known,  it  grew 
upon  the  publick  estimation,  and  that  its  sale  has  far  exceed- 
ed that  of  any  other  periodical  papers  since  the  reign  oT 
Queen  Anne. 

In  one  of  the  books  of  his  diary  I  find  the  following  entry  : 

'Apr.  3,  1753.  1  began  the  second  vol.  of  my  Dictionary,  room 
being  left  in  the  first  for  Preface,  Grammar,  and  History,  none  of 
them  yet  begun. 

'O  God,  who  hast  hitherto  supported  nie,  enable  me  to  proceed 
in  this  labour,  and  in  the  whole  task  of  my  present  state  ;  that 
when  I  shall  render  up,  at  the  last  day,  an  account  of  the  talent 
committed  to  me,  I  may  receive  pardon,  for  the  sake  of  Jesus 
Christ.     Amen.' 

He  this  year  favoured  Mrs.  Lennox'  with  a  Dedication* 
to  the  Earl  of  Orrery,  of  her  Sltakspeare  Illustrated. 

1754:  iETAT.  45.] — In  1754  I  can  trace  nothing  published 
by  him,  except  his  numbers  of  The  Adventurer,  and  'The 
Life  of  Edward  Cave,'*  in  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine  for 
February.  In  biography  there  can  be  no  question  that  he 
excelled,  beyond   all   who   have  attempted   that   species  of 


'  '  One  evening  at  the  Club  Johnson  proposed  to  us  the  celebrating 
the  birth  of  Mrs.  Lennox's  first  hterary  child,  as  he  called  her  book, 
[  The  Life  of  Harriet  Stuart,  a  novel,  published  Dec.  1750]  by  a  whole 
night  spent  in  festivity.  Our  supper  was  elegant,  and  Johnson  had 
directed  that  a  magnificent  hot  apple-pie  should  make  a  part  of  it. 
and  this  he  would  have  stuck  with  bay-leaves,  because,  forsooth,  Mrs. 
Lennox  was  an  authoress,  and  had  written  verses ;  and  further,  he 
had  prepared  for  her  a  crown  of  laurel,  with  which,  but  not  till  he 
had  invoked  the  Muses  by  some  ceremonies  of  his  own  invention,  he 
encircled  her  brows.  About  five  Johnson's  face  shone  with  meridian 
splendour,  though  his  drink  had  been  only  lemonade.'  Hawkins's 
Johnson,  p.  286.  StQ  post,  1 780,  in  Mr.  Langton's  Collection,  and  May 
15,  1784. 

composition ; 


Aetat. 45.]        The  Life  of  Edward  Cave.  297 

composition  ;  upon  which,  indeed,  he  set  the  highest  value. 
To  the  minute  selection  of  characteristical  circumstances, 
for  which  the  ancients  were  remarkable,  he  added  a  philo- 
sophical research,  and  the  most  perspicuous  and  energetick 
language.  Cave  was  certainly  a  man  of  estimable  qualities, 
and  was  eminently  diligent  and  successful  in  his  own  busi- 
ness*, which,  doubtless,  entitled  him  to  respect.  But  he  was 
peculiarly  fortunate  in  being  recorded  by  Johnson,  who,  of 
the  narrow  life  of  a  printer  and  publisher,  without  any  di- 
gressions or  adventitious  circumstances,  has  made  an  interest- 
ing and  agreeable  narrative\ 

The  Dictionary,  we  may  believe,  afforded  Johnson  full 
occupation  this  year.  As  it  approached  to  its  conclusion, 
he  probably  worked  with  redoubled  vigour,  as  seamen  in- 
crease their  exertion  and  alacrity  when  they  have  a  near 
prospect  of  their  haven. 

Lord  Chesterfield,  to  whom  Johnson  had  paid  the  high 
compliment  of  addressing  to  his  Lordship  the  Plan  of  his 
Dictionary,  had  behaved  to  him  in  such  a  manner  as  to  ex- 
cite his  contempt  and  indignation.  The  world  has  been  for 
many  years  amused  with  a  story  confidently  told,  and  as 
confidently  repeated  with  additional  circumstances',  that  a 
sudden  disgust  was  taken  by  Johnson  upon  occasion  of  his 
having  been  one  day  kept  long  in  waiting  in  his  Lordship's 
antechamber,  for  which  the  reason  assigned  was,  that  he  had 
company  with  him  ;  and  that  at  last,  when  the  door  opened, 
out  walked  Colley  Cibber ;  and  that  Johnson  was  so  violent- 
ly provoked  when  he  found  for  whom  he  had  been  so  long 
excluded,  that  he  went  away  in  a  passion,  and  never  would 

'  In  a  document  in  the  possession  of  one  of  Cave's  collateral  de- 
scendants, which  I  have  seen,  dated  May  3,  1754,  and  headed, '  Present 
state  of  the  late  Mr.  Edward  Cave's  effects,'  I  found  entered  'Maga- 
zine, ;£3,ooo.  Daily  Advertiser,  £<)QO.'  The  total  value  of  the  effects 
was  £^,70^. 

'  Johnson  records  of  his  friend  that  '  one  of  the  last  acts  of  reason 
which  he  exerted  was  fondly  to  press  the  hand  that  is  now  writing 
this  little  narrative.'      Works,  vi.  433. 

*  See  Hawkins's  Johnson,  p.  189. 

return. 


298  Dedication  of  his  Dictionary.       [a.d.  1764. 


return.  I  remember  having  mentioned  this  story  to  George 
Lord  Lyttelton,  who  told  me,  ho  was  very  intimate  with 
Lord  Chesterfield  ;  and  holding  it  as  a  well-known  truth,  de- 
fended Lord  Chesterfield,  by  saying,  that  '  Cibbcr,  who  had 
been  introduced  familiarly  by  the  back-stairs,  had  probably 
not  been  there  above  ten  minutes.'  It  may  seem  strange 
even  to  entertain  a  doubt  concerning  a  story  so  long  and  so 
widely  current,  and  thus  implicitly  adopted,  if  not  sanctioned, 
by  the  authority  which  I  have  mentioned ;  but  Johnson 
himself  assured  me,  that  there  was  not  the  least  foundation 
for  it.  He  told  me,  that  there  never  was  any  particular  in- 
cident which  produced  a  quarrel  between  Lord  Chesterfield 
and  him  ;  but  that  his  Lordship's  continued  neglect  was 
the  reason  why  he  resolved  to  have  no  connection  with 
him'.  When  the  Dictionary  was  upon  the  eve  of  publica- 
tion. Lord  Chesterfield,  who,  it  is  said,  had  flattered  himself 
with  expectations  that  Johnson  would  dedicate  the  work  to 
him',  attempted,  in  a  courtly  nianner,  to  sooth,  and  insinuate 

'  Lord  Chesterfield  writing  to  his  son  in  1751  (Letters,  iii.  136)  said  : 
— '  People  in  high  life  are  hardened  to  the  wants  and  distresses  of 
mankind,  as  surgeons  are  to  their  bodily  pains  ;  they  see  and  hear  of 
them  all  day  long,  and  even  of  so  many  simulated  ones,  that  they  do 
not  know  which  are  real,  and  which  are  not.  Other  sentiments  arc 
therefore  to  be  applied  to  than  those  of  mere  justice  and  humanity; 
their  favour  must  be  captivated  by  the  sua7'iter  in  modo ;  their  love 
of  ease  disturbed  by  unwearied  importunity;  or  their  fears  wrought 
upon  by  a  decent  intimation  of  implacable,  cool  resentment :  this  is 
the  \.xvi^  fort  iter  in  re!  He  was  himself  to  experience  an  instance  of 
the  irut  for  titer  in  re. 

'  If  Lord  Chesterfield  had  read  the  last  number  of  The  Ratnbler 
(published  in  March  1752)  he  could  scarcely  have  flattered  himself 
with  these  expectations.  Johnson,  after  saying  that  he  would  not 
endeavour  to  overbear  the  censures  of  criticism  by  the  influence  of  a 
patron,  added  : — '  The  supplications  of  an  author  never  yet  reprieved 
him  a  moment  from  oblivion ;  and,  though  greatness  has  sometimes 
sheltered  guilt,  it  can  afford  no  protection  to  ignorance  or  dulness. 
Having  hitherto  attempted  only  the  propagation  of  truth,  I  will  not 
at  last  violate  it  by  the  confession  of  terrors  which  I  do  not  feel ;  hav- 
ing laboured  to  maintain  the  dignity  of  virtue,  I  will  not  now  degrade 
it  by  the  meanness  of  dedication.' 

himself 


Aetat.45.]  Lord  Chesterfield" s  Jlattery.  299 

himself  with  the  Sage,  conscious,  as  it  should  seem,  of  the 
cold  indifference  with  which  he  had  treated  its  learned  au- 
thour;  and  further  attempted  to  conciliate  him,  by  writing 
two  papers  in  The  Wor/d\  in  recommendation  of  the  work  ; 
and  it  must  be  confessed,  that  they  contain  some  studied 
compliments,  so  finely  turned,  that  if  there  had  been  no  pre- 
vious offence,  it  is  probable  that  Johnson  would  have  been 
highly  delighted^  Praise,  in  general,  was  pleasing  to  him  ; 
but  by  praise  from  a  man  of  rank  and  elegant  accomplish- 
ments, he  was  peculiarly  gratified. 
His  Lordship  says, 

'  I  think  the  publick  in  general,  and  the  republick  of  letters  in 
particular,  are  greatly  obliged  to  Mr.  Johnson,  for  having  under- 
taken, and  executed,  so  great  and  desirable  a  work.  Perfection 
is  not  to  be  expected  from  man  ;  but  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the 

•  On  Nov.  28  and  Dec.  5,  1754.  T/ie  World,  by  Adam  Fitz-Adam, 
Jan.  1753  to  Dec.  1765.  The  editor  was  Edward  Moore.  Among 
the  contributors  were  the  Earls  of  Chesterfield  and  Corke,  Horace 
Walpole,  R.  O.  Cambridge,  and  Soame  Jenyns.  See  post,  July  i, 
1763. 

'  With  these  papers  as  a  whole  Johnson  would  have  been  highly 
offended.  The  anonymous  writer  hopes  that  his  readers  will  not  sus- 
pect him  '  of  being  a  hired  and  interested  puff  of  this  work.'  '  I  most 
solemnly  protest,'  he  goes  on  to  say,  '  that  neither  Mr.  Johnson,  nor 
any  booksellers  have  ever  offered  me  the  usual  compliment  of  a  pair 
of  gloves  or  a  bottle  of  wine.'  It  is  a  pretty  piece  of  irony  for  a  wealthy 
nobleman  solemnly  to  protest  that  he  has  not  been  bribed  by  a  poor 
author,  whom  seven  years  before  he  had  repulsed  from  his  door.  But 
Chesterfield  did  worse  than  this.  By  way  of  recommending  a  work 
of  so  much  learning  and  so  much  labour  he  tells  a  foolish  story  of  an 
assignation  that  had  failed  '  between  a  fine  gentleman  and  a  fine  lady.' 
The  letter  that  had  passed  between  them  had  been  badly  spelt,  and 
they  had  gone  to  different  houses.  '  Such  examples,'  he  wrote, '  really 
make  one  tremble ;  and  will,  I  am  convinced,  determme  my  fair  fel- 
low-subjects and  their  adherents  to  adopt  and  scrupulously  conform 
to  Mr.  Johnson's  rules  of  true  orthography.'  Johnson,  in  the  last  year 
of  his  life,  at  a  time  of  great  weakness  and  depression,  defended  the 
roughness  of  his  manner.  '  I  have  done  more  good  as  I  am.  Ob- 
scenity and  impiety  have  always  been  repressed  in  my  company 
(/w/,  June  II,  1784), 

various 


300  Lord  Chesterfield" s  /lattery.  [a.d.  1754. 

various  works  of  Johnson'  already  published,  we  have  good  reason 
to  believe,  that  he  will  bring  this  as  near  to  perfection  as  any  man 
could  do.  The  Plan  of  it,  which  he  published  some  years  ago. 
seems  to  me  to  be  a  proof  of  it.  Nothing  can  be  more  rationally 
imagined,  or  more  accurately  and  elegantly  expressed.  I  therefore 
recommend  the  previous  perusal  of  it  to  all  those  who  intend  to 
buy  the  Dictionary,  and  who,  I  suppose,  are  all  those  who  can  af- 
ford it.' 

******* 

'  It  must  be  owned,  that  our  language  is.  at  present,  in  a  state  of 
anarchy,  and  hitherto,  perhaps,  it  may  not  have  been  the  worse  for 
it.  During  our  free  and  open  trade,  many  words  and  expressions 
have  been  imported,  adopted,  and  naturalized  from  other  lan- 
guages, which  have  greatly  enriched  our  own.  Let  it  still  preserve 
what  real  strength  and  beauty  it  may  have  borrowed  from  others  ; 
but  let  it  not,  like  the  Tarpeian  maid,  be  overwhelmed  and  crushed 
by  unnecessary  ornaments  ^  The  time  for  discrimination  seems 
to  be  now  come.  Toleration,  adoption,  and  naturalization  have 
run  their  lengths.  Good  order  and  authority  are  now  necessary. 
But  where  shall  we  find  them.  and.  at  the  same  time,  the  obedience 
due  to  them  ?  We  must  have  recourse  to  the  old  Roman  expedient 
in  times  of  confusion,  and  chuse  a  dictator.  Upon  this  principle, 
I  give  my  vote  for  Mr.  Johnson  to  fill  that  great  and  arduous  post. 
And  I  hereby  declare,  that  I  make  a  total  surrender  of  all  my 
rights  and  privileges  in  the  English  language,  as  a  free-born  Brit- 
ish subject,  to  the  said  Mr.  Johnson,  during  the  term  of  his  dicta- 
torship. Nay  more,  I  will  not  only  obey  him,  like  an  old  Roman, 
as  my  dictator,  but,  like  a  modern  Roman.  I  will  implicitly  believe 
in  him  as  my  Pope,  and  hold  him  to  be  infallible  while  in  the  chair, 
but  no  longer.  More  than  this  he  cannot  well  require ;  for,  I  pre- 
sume, that  obedience  can  never  be  expected,  when  there  is  neither 
terrour  to  enforce,  nor  interest  to  invite  it.' 

******* 

'  But  a  Grammar,  a  Dictionary,  and  a  History  of  our  Language 
through  its  several  stages,  were  still  wanting  at  home,  and  impor- 
tunately called  for  from  abroad.  Mr.  Johnson's  labours  will  now, 
I  dare  say'',  very  fully  supply  that  want,  and  greatly  contribute  to 


'  In  the  original  '  Mr.  Johnson.' 

«  In  the  original  '  unnecessary  foreign  ornaments.* 

'  In  the  original,  'will  now,  and,  I  dare  sav.' 

the 


Aetat.45.]  Its  failure.  301 

the  farther  spreading  of  our  language  in  other  countries.  Learners 
were  discouraged,  by  finding  no  standard  to  resort  to  ;  and,  conse- 
quently, thought  it  incapable  of  any.  They  will  now  be  undeceived 
and  encouraged.' 

This  courtly  device  failed  of  its  effect'.  Johnson,  who 
thought  that  'all  was  false  and  hollow','  despised  the 
honeyed  words,  and  was  even  indignant  that  Lord  Chester- 
field should,  for  a  moment,  imagine  that  he  could  be  the 
dupe  of  such  an  artifice.  His  expression  to  me  concerning 
Lord  Chesterfield,  upon  this  occasion,  was,  '  Sir,  after  making 
great  professions',  he  had,  for  many  years,  taken  no  notice  of 
me ;  but  when  my  Dictionary  was  coming  out,  he  fell  a 
scribbling  in  TJie  World  about  it.  Upon  which,  I  wrote 
him  a  letter  expressed  in  civil  terms,  but  such  as  might  shew 
him  that  I  did  not  mind  what  he  said  or  wrote,  and  that  I 
had  done  with  him*.' 


'  Hawkins  (Zz/.?,  p.  191)  says  that  Chesterfield,  further  to  appease 
Johnson,  sent  to  him  Sir  Thomas  Robinson  (see /(^^/,  July  19,  1763), 
who  was  'to  apologise  for  his  lordship's  treatment  of  him,  and  to 
make  him  tenders  of  his  future  friendship  and  patronage.  Sir  Thomas, 
whose  talent  was  flattery,  was  profuse  in  his  commendations  of  John- 
son and  his  writings,  and  declared  that,  were  his  circumstances  other 
than  they  were,  himself  would  settle  ^500  a  year  on  him.  '  And  who 
are  you,' asked  Johnson,  'that  talk  thus  liberally.?'  'I  am,' said  the 
other,  'Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  a  Yorkshire  baronet.'  'Sir,'  replied 
Johnson,  '  if  the  first  peer  of  the  realm  were  to  make  me  such  an 
offer,  I  would  shew  him  the  way  down  stairs.' 

'  Paradise  Lost,  ii.  112. 

'  Johnson,  perhaps,  was  thinking  of  his  interviews  with  Chesterfield, 
when  in  his  Rambler  on  'The  Mischiefs  of  following  a  Patron'  (No. 
163)  he  wrote: — 'If  you,  Mr.  Rambler,  hav^e  ever  ventured  your  phi- 
losophy within  the  attraction  of  greatness,  you  know  the  force  of  such 
language,  introduced  with  a  smile  of  gracious  tenderness,  and  im- 
pressed at  the  conclusion  with  an  air  of  solemn  sincerity.' 

*  Johnson  said  to  Garrick : — '  I  have  sailed  a  long  and  painful  voy- 
age round  the  world  of  the  English  language  ;  and  does  he  now  send 
out  two  cock-boats  to  tow  me  into  harbour.?'  Murphy's  Johnson, 
p.  74.  This  metaphor  may  perhaps  have  been  suggested  to  Johnson 
by  Warburton.     '  I  now  begin  to  see  land,  after  having  wandered,  ac- 

This 

LIBRARY 

STAT-^  THACHE3-S  CU- E*^;: 
«;A  TA  BARBARA,  CAHFORNU 


302  yohnson's  spelling.  [a.d.  1754. 

This  is  that  celebrated  letter  of  which  so  much  has  been 
said,  and  about  which  curiosity  has  been  so  long  excited, 
without  being  gratified.  I  for  many  years  solicited  Johnson 
to  favour  me  with  a  copy  of  it',  that  so  excellent  a  composi- 
tion might  not  be  lost  to  posterity.  He  delayed  from  time 
to  time  to  give  it  mc' ;  till  at  last  in  17.S1,  when  we  were 
on  a  visit  at  Mr.  Dilly's,  at  Southill  in  Bedfordshire,  he  was 
pleased  to  dictate  it  to  me  from  memory".  lie  afterwards 
found  among  his  papers  a  copy  of  it,  which  he  had  dictated 
to  Mr.  Baretti,  with  its  title  and  corrections,  in  his  own  hand- 
writing. This  he  gave  to  Mr.  Langton  ;  adding  that  if  it 
were  to  come  into  print,  he  wished  it  to  be  from  that  copy. 
By  Mr.  Langton's  kindness,  I  am  enabled  to  enrich  my  work 
with  a  perfect  transcript*  of  what  the  world  has  so  eagerly 
desired  to  see. 


cording  to  Mr.  Warburton's  phrase,  in  thi.s  vast  sea  of  words.'     Post, 
Feb.  I,  1755. 

'  See  post,  Nov.  zi.  1779,  and  April  8,  1780.  Sir  Henr\'  Ellis  says 
that  'address'  in  Johnson's  own  copy  of  his  letter  to  Lord  Chester- 
field is  spelt  twice  with  one  d.  Croker's  Corrcs.  ii.  44.  In  the  series 
of  Letters  by  Johnson  given  in  Notes  and  (lucrics,  6th  S.  v,  Johnson 
writes  pcrsuit  (p.  325);  'I  cannot  butt'  (p.  342);  'to  retain  cotiuctT 
(p.  343)  ;  harrasscd  {^.  6fi-^  ;  iindfcillity  {p.  ^Zz).  In  a  letter  to  Nichols 
quoted  by  me, post,  beginning  of  1783,  he  writes  /hicss.  He  common- 
ly, perhaps  always,  spelt  Boswell  Boswcl.  and  Nichols's  name  in  one 
series  of  letters  he  spelt  Nichols,  Nichol,  and  Nicol.  Post,  beginning 
of  1 78 1,  note. 

*  Dr.  Johnson  appeared  to  have  had  a  remarkable  delicacy  with 
respect  to  the  circulation  of  this  letter ;  for  Dr.  Douglas.  Bishop  of 
Salisbury,  informs  me  that,  having  many  years  ago  pressed  him  to  be 
allowed  to  read  it  to  the  second  Lord  Hardwicke,  who  was  very  de- 
sirous to  hear  it  (promising  at  the  same  time,  that  no  copy  of  it  should 
be  taken),  Johnson  seemed  much  pleased  that  it  had  attracted  the 
attention  of  a  nobleman  of  such  a  respectable  character;  but  after 
pausing  some  time,  declined  to  comply  with  the  request,  saying,  with 
a  smile, '  No,  Sir  ;  I  have  hurt  the  dog  too  much  already;'  or  words  to 
that  purpose.     Boswell. 

*  '^ee  post,  June  4,  1 781. 

*  In  1790,  the  year  before  the  Life  of  Johnson  came  out,  Boswell 
published  this  letter  in  a  separate  sheet  of  four  quarto  pages  under 

'To 


Aetat.  45.]  yoknsou  s  Utter  to  Lord  Chesterfield.  303 

'To  THE  Right  Honourable  the  Earl  of  Chesterfield. 

'My  Lord,  '  February  7.  i 755- 

'  I  have  been  lately  informed,  by  the  proprietor  of  the  World, 
that  two  papers,  in  which  my  Dictionary  is  recommended  to  the 
publick,  were  written  by  your  Lordship.  To  be  so  distinguished, 
is  an  honour,  which,  being  very  little  accustomed  to  favours  from 
the  great,  I  know  not  well  how  to  receive,  or  in  what  terms  to  ac- 
knowledge. 

'  When,  upon  some  slight  encouragement,  I  first  visited  your 
Lordship,  I  was  overpowered,  like  the  rest  of  mankind,  by  the  en- 
chantment of  your  address  ;  and  could  not  forbear  to  wish  that  I 
might  boast  myself  Le  vamqueur  dii  vainqueur  de  la  terre^  ; — that  I 
might  obtain  that  regard  for  which  I  saw  the  world  contending; 
but  I  found  my  attendance  so  little  encouraged,  that  neither  pride 
nor  modesty  would  suffer  me  to  continue  it.  When  I  had  once 
addressed  your  Lordship  in  publick,  I  had  exhausted  all  the  art  of 
pleasing  which  a  retired  and  uncourtly  scholar  can  possess.  I  had 
done  all  that  I  could ;  and  no  man  is  well  pleased  to  have  his  all 
neglected,  be  it  ever  so  little. 

'  Seven  years,  my  Lord,  have  now  past,  since  I  waited  in  your 
outward  rooms,  or  was  repulsed  from  your  door ;  during  which 
time  I  have  been  pushing  on  my  work  through  difficulties,  of  which 
it  is  useless  to  complain,  and  have  brought  it,  at  last,  to  the 
verge  of  publication,  without  one  act  of  assistance'^,  one  word  of 


the  following  title:— 77/^'  celebrated  Letter  from  Samuel  Johnson, 
LL.D.,  to  Philip  Dormer  Stanhope,  Earl  of  Chesterfield ;  Notv  first 
published  ■x^'ith  Notes,  by  fames  Boswell,  Esq.,  London.  Printed  by 
Henry  Baldwin :  for  Charles  Dilly  in  the  Poultry,  MDCCXC.  Price 
Half-a-Gtiinea.  Entered  in  the  Hall- Book  of  the  Company  of  Sta- 
tioners.    It  belongs  to  the  same  impression  as  T/ie  Life  of  Johnson. 

'  'Je  chante  le  vainqueur  des  vainqueurs  de  la  terre.'  Boileau, 
L'Art  poitique,  iii.  272. 

'  The  following  note  is  subjoined  by  Mr.  Langton  : — '  Dr.  Johnson, 
when  he  gave  me  this  copy  of  his  letter,  desired  that  I  would  annex 
to  it  his  information  to  me,  that  whereas  it  is  said  in  the  letter  that 
"  no  assistance  has  been  received,"  he  did  once  receive  from  Lord 
Chesterfield  the  sum  of  ten  pounds ;  but  as  that  was  so  inconsider- 
able a  sum,  he  thought  the  mention  of  it  could  not  properly  find 
place  in  a  letter  of  the  kind  that  this  was.'  Boswell.  '  This  surely 
is  an  unsatisfactory  excuse,'  writes  Mr.  Croker.     He  read  Johnson's 

encouragement, 


304         Johnsons  letter  to  Lord  Chesterfield,  [a.d.  1754, 

encouragement,  or  one  smile  of  favour.  Such  treatment  I  did  not 
expect,  for  I  never  had  a  Patron  before. 

'  The  shepherd  in  Virgil  grew  at  last  acquainted  with  Love,  and 
found  him  a  native  of  the  rocks. 

'  Is  not  a  Patron,  my  Lord,  one  who  looks  with  unconcern  on  a 
man  struggling  for  life  in  the  water,  and,  when  he  has  reached 
ground,  encumbers  him  with  help  ?  The  notice  which  you  have 
been  pleased  to  take  of  my  labours,  had  it  been  early,  had  been 
kind ;  but  it  has  been  delayed  till  1  am  indifferent,  and  cannot 
enjoy  it ;  till  I  am  solitary,  and  cannot  impart  it' ;  till  I  am  known, 

letter  carelessly,  as  the  rest  of  his  note  shews.  Johnson  says,  that 
during  the  seven  years  that  had  passed  since  he  was  repulsed  from 
Chesterfield's  door  he  had  pushed  on  his  work  without  one  act  of 
assistance.  These  ten  pounds,  we  may  feel  sure,  had  been  received 
before  the  seven  years  began  to  run.  No  doubt  they  had  been  given 
in  1747  as  an  acknowledgment  of  the  compliment  paid  to  Chester- 
field  in  the  Plan.  He  had  at  first  been  misled  by  Chesterfield's  one 
act  of  kindness,  but  he  had  long  had  his  eyes  opened.  Like  the  shep- 
herd in  Virgil  {Eclogues,  viii.  43)  he  could  say  : — '  Xiiiic  .scio  quid  sit 
Amor.' 

'  In  this  passage  Dr.  Johnson  evidently  alludes  to  the  loss  of  his 
wife.  We  find  the  same  tender  recollection  recurring  to  his  mind 
upon  innumerable  occasions :  and,  perhaps  no  man  ever  more  forci- 
bly felt  the  truth  of  the  sentiment  so  elegantly  expressed  by  my  friend 
Mr.  Malone,  in  his  Prologue  to  Mr.  Jephson's  tragedy  of  Jlli.a.  (  Julia 
or  the  Italian  Lover  was  acted  for  the  first  time  on  .April  17,  1787. 
Gent.  Mag.  1787,  p.  354]  : — 

'Vain  —  wealth,  and  fame,  and  fortune's  fostering  care, 
If  no  fond  breast  the  splendid  blessings  share; 
And,  each  day's  bustling  pageantry  once  past. 
There,  only  there,  our  bliss  is  found  at  last.'        Boswell. 
Three  years  earlier,  when  his  wife  was  dying,  he  had  written  in  one 
of  the  last  Ramblers  (No.  203) : — '  It  is  necessary  to  the  completion  of 
every  good,  that  it  be  timely  obtained  ;   for  whatever  comes  at  the 
close  of  life  will  come  too  late  to  give  much  delight  .  .  .  What  we 
acquire  by  bravery  or  science,  by  mental  or  corporal  diligence,  comes 
at  last  when  we  cannot  communicate,  and  therefore  cannot  enjoy  it.' 
Chesterfield  himself  was  in  no  happy  state.     Less  than  a  month  be- 
fore he   received  Johnson's  letter  he  wrote  (  Works,  lii.  308) : — '  For 
these  six  months  past,  it  seems  as  if  all  the  complaints  that  ever  at- 
tacked heads  had  joined  to  overpower  mine.     Continual  noises,  head- 
ache, giddiness,  and   impenetrable   deafness;    I  could   not  stoop  to 

and 


Aetat.  45.]  Warburtons  compliments.  305 

and  do  not  want  it.  I  hope  it  is  no  very  cynical  asperity  not  to 
confess  obligations  where  no  benefit  has  been  received,  or  to  be 
unwilling  that  the  Publick  should  consider  me  as  owing  that  to  a 
Patron,  which  Providence  has  enabled  nie  to  do  for  myself. 

'  Having  carried  on  my  work  thus  far  with  so  little  obligation  to 
any  favourer  of  learning',  I  shall  not  be  disappointed  though  I 
should  conclude  it,  if  less  be  possible,  with  less ;  for  I  have  been 
long  wakened  from  that  dream  of  hope,  in  which  I  once  boasted 
myself  with  so  much  exultation, 

'  My  Lord, 
'  Your  Lordship's  most  humble, 

'  Most  obedient  servant, 

'  Sam.  JoHNSON^' 

'  While  this  was  the  talk  of  the  town,  (says  Dr.  Adams,  in 
a  letter  to  me)  I  happened  to  visit  Dr.  Warburton,  who  find- 
ing that  I  was  acquainted  with  Johnson,  desired  me  earnestly 
to  carry  his  compliments  to  him,  and  to  tell  him,  that  he 
honoured  him  for  his  manly  behaviour  in  rejecting  these  con- 
descensions of  Lord  Chesterfield,  and  for  resenting  the  treat- 
ment he  had  received  from  him,  with  a  proper  spirit.  John- 
son  was  visibly  pleased  with  this  compliment,  for  he  had 

write ;  and  even  reading,  the  only  resource  of  the  deaf,  was  painful 
to  me.'  He  wrote  to  his  son  a  year  earlier  (Letters,  iv.  43),  '  Reading, 
which  was  always  a  pleasure  to  me  in  the  time  even  of  my  greatest 
dissipation,  is  now  become  my  only  refuge ;  and  I  fear  I  indulge  it  too 
much  at  the  expense  of  my  eyes.  But  what  can  I  do  .-*  I  must  do 
something.  I  cannot  bear  absolute  idleness ;  my  ears  grow  every 
day  more  useless  to  me,  my  eyes  consequently  more  necessary.  I 
will  not  hoard  them  like  a  miser,  but  will  rather  risk  the  loss  than 
not  enjoy  the  use  of  them.' 

'  •  The  English  Dictionary  was  written  with  little  assistance  of  the 
learned,  and  without  any  patronage  of  the  great ;  not  in  the  soft 
obscurities  of  retirement,  or  under  the  shelter  of  academick  bowers, 
but  amidst  inconvenience  and  distraction,  in  sickness  and  in  sorrow.' 
Johnson's  Works^v.  51. 

'  Upon  comparing  this  copy  with  that  which  Dr.  Johnson  dictated 
to  me  from  recollection,  the  variations  are  found  to  be  so  slight,  that 
this  must  be  added  to  the  many  other  proofs  which  he  gave  of  the 
wonderful  extent  and  accuracy  of  his  memory.  To  gratify  the  curious 
in  composition,  I  have  deposited  both  the  copies  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum.    BoswELL. 

I. — 20  always 


3o6  yofmsons  Imitatioyis  of  yiwenal.     [a.d.  i754. 

always  a  high  opinion  of  Warburton'.  Indeed,  the  force  of 
mind  which  appeared  in  this  letter,  was  congenial  with  that 
which  Warburton  himself  amply  possessed\' 

There  is  a  curious  minute  circumstance  which  struck  me, 
in  comparing  the  various  editions  of  Johnson's  imitations  of 
Juvenal.  In  the  tenth  Satire,  one  of  the  couplets  upon  the 
vanity  of  wishes  even  for  literary  distinction  stood  thus: 

'  Yet  think'  what  ills  the  scholar's  life  assail, 
Pride*,  envy,  want,  the  garret,  and  the  jail.' 

But  after  experiencing  the  uneasiness  which  Lord  Chester- 
field's fallacious  patronage  made  him  feel,  he  dismissed  the 


'  Soon  after  Edwards's  Canotts  of  Criticism  came  out.  Johnson  was 
dining  at  Tonson  the  Bookseller's,  with  Hayman  the  Painter  and 
some  more  company.  Hayman  related  to  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  that 
the  conversation  having  turned  upon  Edwards's  book,  the  gentlemen 
praised  it  much,  and  Johnson  allowed  its  merit.  But  when  they  went 
farther,  and  appeared  to  put  that  authour  upon  a  level  with  Warbur- 
ton, 'Nay,  (said  Johnson.)  he  has  given  him  some  smart  hits  to  be 
sure ;  but  there  is  no  proportion  between  the  two  men  ;  they  must 
not  be  named  together.  A  fly.  Sir.  may  sting  a  stately  horse  and 
make  him  wince ;  but  one  is  but  an  insect,  and  the  other  is  a  horse 
still.'  BOSWELL.  Johnson  in  his  Preface  to  Shakespeare  (  Works, 
V.  141)  wrote: — '  Dr.  Warburton 's  chief  assailants  are  the  authors  of 
The  Cations  of  Criticism,  and  of  The  Rrjisal  of  Shakespeare's  Tc.rt. 
.  .  .  The  one  stings  like  a  fly,  sucks  a  little  blood,  takes  a  gay  flutter 
and  returns  for  more:  the  other  bites  like  a  viper.  .  .  .  When  I  think 
on  one  with  his  confederates,  I  remember  the  danger  of  Coriolanus, 
who  was  afraid  that  "  girls  with  spits,  and  boys  with  stones,  should 
slay  him  in  puny  battle ;"  when  the  other  crosses  my  imagination,  I 
remember  the  prodigy  in  Macbeth  : 

"A  falcon  tow'ring  in  his  pride  of  place. 
Was  by  a  mousing  owl  hawk'd  at  and  kill'd." 
Let  me,  however,  do  them  justice.     One  is  a  wit  and  one  a  scholar." 

^  To  Johnson  might  be  applied  what  he  himself  said  of  Dryden  : — 
'He  appears  to  have  known  in  its  whole  extent  the  dignity  of  his 
character,  and  to  have  set  a  very  high  value  on  his  own  powers  and 
performances.'      Works,  vii.  291. 

'  In  the  original   Vet  mark. 

*  In  the  original  Toil. 

word 


Aetat.45.]  For  ^garret'  read  'patron^  307 

word  garret  from  the  sad  group,  and  in  all  the  subsequent 
editions  the  line  stands 

'  Pride*,  envy,  want,  the  Patron^ ^  and  the  jail.' 

That  Lord  Chesterfield  must  have  been  mortified  by  the 
lofty  contempt,  and  polite,  yet  keen  satire  with  which  John- 
son exhibited  him  to  himself  in  this  letter,  it  is  impossible  to 
doubt.  He,  however,  with  that  glossy  duplicity  which  was 
his  constant  study,  affected  to  be  quite  unconcerned.  Dr. 
Adams  mentioned  to  Mr.  Robert  Dodsley  that  he  was  sorry 
Johnson  had  written  his  letter  to  Lord  Chesterfield.  Dods- 
ley, with  the  true  feelings  of  trade,  said  'he  was  very  sorry 
too ;  for  that  he  had  a  property  in  the  Dictioriary,  to  which 
his  Lordship's  patronage  might  have  been  of  consequence.' 
He  then  told  Dr.  Adams,  that  Lord  Chesterfield  had  shewn 
him  the  letter.  'I  should  have  imagined  (replied  Dr.  Adams) 
that  Lord  Chesterfield  would  have  concealed  it.'  '  Poh !  (said 
Dodsley)  do  you  think  a  letter  from  Johnson  could  hurt  Lord 
Chesterfield?  Not  at  all,  Sir.  It  lay  upon  his  table,  where 
any  body  might  see  it.  He  read  it  to  me;  said,  "this  man 
has  great  powers,"  pointed  out  the  severest  passages,  and 
observed  how  well  they  were  expressed.'  This  air  of  indiffer- 
ence, which  imposed  upon  the  worthy  Dodsley,  was  certainly 
nothing  but  a  specimen  of  that  dissimulation  which  Lord 
Chesterfield  inculcated  as  one  of  the  most  essential  lessons 
for  the  conduct  of  life".     His  Lordship  endeavoured  to  justify 

'  In  the  original  Toil. 

*  In  his  Dictionary  he  defined  patron  as  '  commonly  a  wretch  who 
supports  with  insolence  and  is  paid  with  flattery.'  This  definition 
disappears  in  the  Abridgemeiit,  but  remains  in  the  fourth  edition. 

'  Chesterfield,  when  he  read  Johnson's  letter  to  Dodsley,  was  acting 
up  to  the  advice  that  he  had  given  his  own  son  six  years  earlier  {Let- 
ters,'\\.  172): — 'When  things  of  this  kind  [bons  mots]  happen  to  be 
said  of  you,  the  most  prudent  way  is  to  seem  not  to  suppose  that  they 
are  meant  at  you,  but  to  dissemble  and  conceal  whatever  degree  of 
anger  you  may  feel  inwardly;  and,  should  they  be  so  plain,  that  you 
cannot  be  supposed  ignorant  of  their  meaning,  to  join  in  the  laugh  of 
the  company  against  yourself;  acknowledge  the  hit  to  be  a  fair  one, 
and  the  jest  a  good  one,  and  play  off  the  whole  thing  in  seeming  good 

himself 


3o8  Defensive  pride.  [a.d.  1754 


himself  to  Dodsley  from  the  charges  brought  against  him  by 
Johnson ;  but  we  may  judge  of  the  flimsiness  of  his  defence, 
"from  his  having  excused  his  neglect  of  Johnson,  by  saying 
that  'he  had  heard  he  had  changed  his  lodgings,  and  did 
not  know  where  he  lived  ;'  as  if  there  could  have  been  the 
smallest  difficulty  to  inform  himself  of  that  circumstance, 
by  inquiring  in  the  literary  circle  with  which  his  Lordship 
was  well  acquainted,  and  was,  indeed,  himself  one  of  its 
ornaments. 

Dr.  Adams  expostulated  with  Johnson,  and  suggested,  that 
his  not  being  admitted  when  he  called  on  him,  was,  probably, 
not  to  be  imputed  to  Lord  Chesterfield ;  for  his  Lordship 
had  declared  to  Dodsley,  that  '  he  would  have  turned  off  the 
best  servant  he  ever  had,  if  he  had  known  that  he  denied  him 
to  a  man  who  would  have  been  always  more  than  welcome ;' 
and,  in  confirmation  of  this,  he  insisted  on  Lord  Chesterfield's 
general  affability  and  easiness  of  access,  especially  to  literary 
men.  '  Sir,  (said  Johnson)  that  is  not  Lord  Chesterfield ;  he  is 
the  proudest  man  this  day  existing'.'  '  No,  (said  Dr.  Adams) 
there  is  one  person,  at  least,  as  proud  ;  I  think,  by  your  own 
account,  you  are  the  prouder  man  of  the  two.'  '  But  mine, 
(replied  Johnson,  instantly)  was  defensive  pride.'  This,  as 
Dr.  Adams  well  observed,  was  one  of  those  happy  turns  for 
which  he  was  so  remarkably  ready. 

Johnson  having  now  explicitly  avowed  his  opinion  of  Lord 
Chesterfield,  did  not  refrain  from  expressing  himself  concern- 
ing that  nobleman  with  pointed  freedom  :  '  This  man  (said 
he)  I  thought  had  been  a  Lord  among  wits;  but,  I  find,  he 
is  only  a  wit  among  Lords'!'     And  when  his  Letters  to  his 

humour ;  but  by  no  means  reply  in  the  same  way ;  which  only  shows 
that  you  are  hurt,  and  publishes  the  victory  which  you  might  have 
concealed.' 

'  See  post,  March  23,  1783.  where  Johnson  said  that  '  Lord  Chester- 
field was  dignified,  but  he  was  insolent;'  and  June  27,  1784,  where  he 
said  that  '  his  manner  was  exquisitely  elegant.' 

'  '  Whate'er  of  mongrel  no  one  class  admits, 

A  wit  with  dunces,  and  a  dunce  with  wits.' 

Pope's  Dunciad,  iv.  90. 
natural 


Aetat.45.]   ChesterfielcC s  'Respectable  Hottentot^         309 

natural  son  were  published,  he  observed,  that  '  they  teach  the 
morals  of  a  whore,  and  the  manners  of  a  dancing  master'.' 

The  character  of  'a  respectable  Hottentot,'  in  Lord  Ches- 
terfield's letters',  has  been  generally  understood  to  be  meant 
for  Johnson,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  was.  But  I  remem- 
ber when  the  Literary  Property  of  those  letters  was  contested 
in  the  Court  of  Session  in  Scotland,  and  Mr.  Henry  Dundas\ 

'  A  true  choice  spirit  we  admit ; 
With  wits  a  fool,  with  fools  a  wit." 

Churchill's  Duellist,  Book  iii. 
'  The  solemn  fop,  significant  and  budge ; 
A  fool  with  judges,  amongst  fools  a  judge.' 

Cowper's  Poems,  Conversation,  1.  299. 
According  to  Rebecca  Warner  {Original  Letters,  p.  204),  Johnson  tell- 
ing Joseph  Fowke  about  his  refusal  to  dedicate  his  Dictionary  to 
Chesterfield,  said  : — '  Sir,  I  found  I  must  have  gilded  a  rotten  post.' 

'  That  collection  of  letters  cannot  be  vindicated  from  the  serious 
charge  of  encouraging,  in  some  passages,  one  of  the  vices  most  de- 
structive to  the  good  order  and  comfort  of  society,  which  his  Lordship 
represents  as  mere  fashionable  gallantry';  and,  in  others,  of  inculcating 
the  base  practice  of  dissimulation,  and  recommending,  with  dispro- 
portionate anxiety,  a  perpetual  attention  to  external  elegance  of  man- 
ners. But  it  must,  at  the  same  time,  be  allowed,  that  they  contain 
many  good  precepts  of  conduct,  and  much  genuine  information  upon 
life  and  manners,  very  happily  expressed  ;  and  that  there  was  con- 
siderable merit  in  paying  so  much  attention  to  the  improvement  of 
one  who  was  dependent  upon  his  Lordship's  protection  ;  it  has,  prob- 
ably, been  exceeded  in  no  instance  by  the  most  exemplary  parent ; 
and  though  1  can  by  no  means  approve  of  confounding  the  distinction 
between  lawful  and  illicit  offspring,  which  is,  in  effect,  insulting  the 
civil  establishment  of  our  country,  to  look  no  higher ;  I  cannot  help 
thinking  it  laudable  to  be  kindly  attentive  to  those,  of  whose  existence 
we  have,  in  any  way,  been  the  cause.  Mr.  Stanhope's  character  has 
been  unjustly  represented  as  diametrically  opposite  to  what  Lord 
Chesterfield  wished  him  to  be.  He  has  been  called  dull,  gross,  and 
aukward  :  but  I  knew  him  at  Dresden,  when  he  was  Envoy  to  that 
court;  and  though  he  could  not  boast  of  \h& graces,  he  was,  in  truth, 
a  sensible,  civil,  well-behaved  man.  Boswell.  See  post,  March  28, 
1775,  under  April  29,  1776,  and  June  27,  1784. 

*  Chesterfield's  Letters,  iii.  129. 

'  Now  one  of  his  Majesty's  principal  Secretaries  of  State.  Bos- 
WELL.     Afterwards  Viscount  Melville. 

one 


3o8  Defensive  pride.  [a. d.  1754 


himself  to  Dodsley  from  the  charges  brought  against  him  by 
Johnson;  but  we  may  judge  of  the  flimsiness  of  his  defence, 
'from  his  having  excused  his  neglect  of  Johnson,  by  saying 
that  'he  had  heard  he  had  changed  his  lodgings,  and  did 
not  know  where  he  lived  ;'  as  if  there  could  have  been  the 
smallest  difficulty  to  inform  himself  of  that  circumstance, 
by  inquiring  in  the  literary  circle  with  which  his  Lordship 
was  well  acquainted,  and  was,  indeed,  himself  one  of  its 
ornaments. 

Dr.  Adams  expostulated  with  Johnson,  and  suggested,  that 
his  not  being  admitted  when  he  called  on  him,  was,  probably, 
not  to  be  imputed  to  Lord  Chesterfield ;  for  his  Lordship 
had  declared  to  Dodsley,  that  '  he  would  have  turned  off  the 
best  servant  he  ever  had,  if  he  had  known  that  he  denied  him 
to  a  man  who  would  have  been  always  more  than  welcome ;' 
and,  in  confirmation  of  this,  he  insisted  on  Lord  Chesterfield's 
general  affability  and  easiness  of  access,  especially  to  literary 
men.  '  Sir,  (said  Johnson)  that  is  not  Lord  Chesterfield ;  he  is 
the  proudest  man  this  day  existing'.'  '  No,  (said  Dr.  Adams) 
there  is  one  person,  at  least,  as  proud  ;  I  think,  by  your  own 
account,  you  are  the  prouder  man  of  the  two.'  '  But  mine, 
(replied  Johnson,  instantly)  was  defensive  pride.'  This,  as 
Dr.  Adams  well  observed,  was  one  of  those  happy  turns  for 
which  he  was  so  remarkably  ready. 

Johnson  having  now  explicitly  avowed  his  opinion  of  Lord 
Chesterfield,  did  not  refrain  from  expressing  himself  concern- 
ing that  nobleman  with  pointed  freedom:  'This  man  (said 
he)  I  thought  had  been  a  Lord  among  wits ;  but,  I  find,  he 
is  only  a  wit  among  Lords^!'     And  when  his  Letters  to  his 

humour ;  but  by  no  means  reply  in  the  same  way ;  which  only  shows 
that  you  are  hurt,  and  publishes  the  victory  which  you  might  have 
concealed.' 

'  See  post,  March  23,  1783,  where  Johnson  said  that  '  Lord  Chester- 
field was  dignified,  but  he  was  insolent;'  and  June  27,  1784,  where  he 
said  that  '  his  manner  was  exquisitely  elegant.' 

*  '  Whate'er  of  mongrel  no  one  class  admits, 

A  wit  with  dunces,  and  a  dunce  with  wits.' 

Pope's  Dunciad,  iv.  90. 
natural 


Aetat.45.]   Chesterfield' s  'Respectable  Hottentot^         309 

natural  son  were  published,  he  observed,  that  *  they  teach  the 
morals  of  a  whore,  and  the  manners  of  a  dancing  master'.' 

The  character  of  *a  respectable  Hottentot,'  in  Lord  Ches- 
terfield's letters",  has  been  generally  understood  to  be  meant 
for  Johnson,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  was.  But  I  remem- 
ber when  the  Literary  Property  of  those  letters  was  contested 
in  the  Court  of  Session  in  Scotland,  and  Mr.  Henry  Dundas', 

'  A  true  choice  spirit  we  admit ; 
With  wits  a  fool,  with  fools  a  wit.' 

Churchill's  Duellist,  Book  iii. 
'  The  solemn  fop,  significant  and  budge ; 
A  fool  with  judges,  amongst  fools  a  judge.' 

Cowper's  Foetus,  Coiversation,  1.  299. 
According  to  Rebecca  Warner  {Original  Letters,  p.  204),  Johnson  tell- 
ing Joseph   Fowke  about  his  refusal  to  dedicate  his  Dictionary  to 
Chesterfield,  said  : — '  Sir,  I  found  I  must  have  gilded  a  rotten  post.' 

'  That  collection  of  letters  cannot  be  vindicated  from  the  serious 
charge  of  encouraging,  in  some  passages,  one  of  the  vices  most  de- 
structive to  the  good  order  and  comfort  of  society,  which  his  Lordship 
represents  as  mere  fashionable  gallantr)^ ;  and,  in  others,  of  inculcating 
the  base  practice  of  dissimulation,  and  recommending,  with  dispro- 
portionate anxiety,  a  perpetual  attention  to  external  elegance  of  man- 
ners. But  it  must,  at  the  same  time,  be  allowed,  that  they  contain 
many  good  precepts  of  conduct,  and  much  genuine  information  upon 
life  and  manners,  very  happily  expressed  ;  and  that  there  was  con- 
siderable merit  in  paying  so  much  attention  to  the  improvement  of 
one  who  was  dependent  upon  his  Lordship's  protection  ;  it  has,  prob- 
ably, been  exceeded  in  no  instance  by  the  most  exemplary  parent ; 
and  though  I  can  by  no  means  approve  of  confounding  the  distinction 
between  lawful  and  illicit  offspring,  which  is,  in  effect,  insulting  the 
civil  establishment  of  our  country,  to  look  no  higher;  I  cannot  help 
thinking  it  laudable  to  be  kindly  attentive  to  those,  of  whose  existence 
we  have,  in  any  way,  been  the  cause.  Mr.  Stanhope's  character  has 
been  unjustly  represented  as  diametrically  opposite  to  what  Lord 
Chesterfield  wished  him  to  be.  He  has  been  called  dull,  gross,  and 
aukward  :  but  I  knew  him  at  Dresden,  when  he  was  Envoy  to  that 
court ;  and  though  he  could  not  boast  of  the  graces,  he  was,  in  truth, 
a  sensible,  civil,  well-behaved  man.  Boswell.  See  post,  March  28, 
1775,  under  April  29,  1776,  and  June  27,  1784. 

'  Chesterfield's  Letters,  iii.  129. 

'  Now  one  of  his  Majesty's  principal  Secretaries  of  State.  Bos- 
WELL.     Afterwards  Viscount  Melville. 

one 


3IO         Chesterfield's  'Respectable  Hottentot'   [a.d.1754. 

one  of  the  counsel  for  the  proprietors,  read  this  character  as 
an  exhibition  of  Johnson,  Sir  David  Dalr>'mple,  Lord  Hailes, 
one  of  the  Judges,  maintained,  with  some  warmth,  that  it  was 
not  intended  as  a  portrait  of  Johnson,  but  of  a  late  noble 
Lord,  distinguished  for  abstruse  science'.  I  have  heard  John- 
son himself  talk  of  the  character,  and  say  that  it  was  meant 
for  George  Lord  Lyttelton,  in  which  I  could  by  no  means 
agree ;  for  his  Lordship  had  nothing  of  that  violence  which 
is  a  conspicuous  feature  in  the  composition.  Finding  that 
my  illustrious  friend  could  bear  to  have  it  supposed  that  it 
might  be  meant  for  him,  I  said,  laughingly,  that  there  was 
one  trait  which  unquestionably  did  not  belong  to  him  ;  '  he 
throws  his  meat  anywhere  but  down  his  throat.'  '  Sir,  (said 
he,)  Lord  Chesterfield  never  saw  me  eat  in  his  life\' 

*  Probably  George,  second  Earl  of  Macclesfield,  who  was,  in  1752, 
elected  President  of  the  Royal  Society.  Crokkr.  Horace  Walpole 
{Letters,  ii.  321)  mentions  him  as  'engaged  to  a  party  for  finding  out 
the  longitude.' 

»  In  another  work  {Dr.  Johnson :  His  Friends  and  his  Critics,  p. 
214),  I  have  shewn  that  Lord  Chesterfield's  '  Respectable  Hottentot' 
was  not  Johnson.  From  the  beginning  of  1748  to  the  end  of  1754 
Chesterfield  had  no  dealings  of  any  kind  with  Johnson.  At  no  time 
had  there  been  the  slightest  intimacy  between  the  great  nobleman 
and  the  poor  author.  Chesterfield  had  never  seen  Johnson  eat.  The 
letter  in  which  the  character  is  drawn  opens  with  the  epigram  : 
Non  amo  te.  Sabidi,  nee  possum  dicere  quare, 
Hoc  tantum  possum  dicere.  non  amo  te. 
Chesterfield  goes  on  to  show  '  how  it  is  possible  not  to  lov-e  anybody, 
and  yet  not  to  know  the  reason  why.  .  .  .  How  often,'  he  says,  'have 
I,  in  the  course  of  my  life,  found  myself  in  this  situation  with  regard 
to  many  of  my  acquaintance  whom  I  have  honoured  and  respected, 
without  being  able  to  love.'  He  then  instances  the  case  of  the  man 
whom  he  describes  as  a  respectable  Hottentot.  It  is  clear  that  he  is 
writing  of  a  man  whom  he  knows  well  and  who  has  some  claim  upon 
his  affection.  Twice  he  says  that  it  is  impossible  to  love  him.  The 
date  of  this  letter  is  Feb.  28,  1751,  more  than  three  years  after  Johnson 
had  for  the  last  time  waited  in  Chesterfield's  outward  rooms.  More- 
over the  same  man  is  described  in  three  other  letters  (Sept.  22,  1749; 
Nov.  1749;  and  May  27,  1753),  and  described  as  one  with  whom  Ches- 
terfield lived  on  terms  of  intimacy.    In  the  two  former  of  these  letters 

On 


Aetat.45.]  Bolingbrokes  Philosophy.  311 

On  the  6th  of  March  came  out  Lord  Bolingbroke's  works, 
published  by  Mr.  David  Mallet'.  The  wild  and  pernicious  rav- 
ings, under  the  name  of  Philosophy,  which  were  thus  ushered 
into  the  world,  gave  great  offence  to  all  well-principled  men. 
Johnson,  hearing  of  their  tendency',  which  nobody  disputed, 

he  is  called  Mr.  L.  Lyttelton  did  not  become  Sir  George  Lyttelton 
till  Sept.  14,  1751.  He  was  raised  to  the  peerage  in  1757.  Horace 
Walpole  {Reign  of  George  III,  i.  256)  says  of  him  : — '  His  ignorance  of 
mankind,  want  of  judgment,  with  strange  absence  and  awkwardness, 
involved  him  in  mistakes  and  ridicule.'  Had  Chesterfield's  letter 
been  published  when  it  was  written,  no  one  in  all  likelihood  would 
have  so  much  as  dreamt  that  Johnson  was  aimed  at.  But  it  did  not 
come  before  the  world  till  twenty-three  years  later,  when  Johnson's 
quarrel  with  Chesterfield  was  known  to  every  one,  when  Johnson 
himself  was  at  the  very  head  of  the  literary  world,  and  when  his  pe- 
culiarities had  become  a  matter  of  general  interest. 

'  About  four  years  after  this  time  Gibbon,  on  his  return  to  England, 
became  intimate  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mallet.  He  thus  wrote  of  them  : 
— 'The  most  useful  friends  of  my  father  were  the  Mallets;  they  re- 
ceived me  with  civility  and  kindness  at  first  on  his  account,  and  after- 
wards on  my  own  ;  and  (if  I  may  use  Lord  Chesterfield's  words)  I  was 
soon  domesticated  in  their  house.  Mr.  Mallet,  a  name  among  the 
English  poets,  is  praised  by  an  unforgiving  enemy  for  the  ease  and 
elegance  of  his  conversation,  and  his  wife  was  not  destitute  of  wit  or 
learning.'  Gibbon's  Misc.  Works,  \.  115.  The  'unforgiving  enemy' 
was  Johnson,  who  wrote  {Works,vn\.  \(iS): — 'His  conversation  was 
elegant  and  easy.  The  rest  of  his  character  may,  without  injury  to 
his  memory,  sink  into  silence.'  Johnson  once  said  : — '  I  have  seldom 
met  with  a  man  whose  colloquial  ability  exceeded  that  of  Mallet.' 
Johnson's  Works,  1787,  xi.  214.  See  post,  March  27,  1772,  and  April 
28,  1783;  and  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Sept.  10,  1773. 

'  Johnson  had  never  read  Bolingbroke's  Philosophy.  '  I  have  never 
read  Bolingbroke's  impiety,'  he  said  (post,  under  March  i,  1758).  In 
the  memorable  sentence  that  he,  notwithstanding,  pronounced  upon 
the  author,  he  exposed  himself  to  the  retort  which  he  had  recorded 
in  his  Li/e  of  Boerhaave  (  Works,  vi.  277).  '  As  Boerhaave  was  sitting 
in  a  common  boat,  there  arose  a  conversation  among  the  passengers 
upon  the  impious  and  pernicious  doctrine  of  Spinosa,  which,  as  they 
all  agjeed,  tends  to  the  utter  overthrow  of  all  religion.  Boerhaave 
sat  and  attended  silently  to  this  discourse  for  some  time,  till  one  of 
the  company  .  .  .  instead  of  confuting  the  positions  of  Spinosa  by  ar- 
gument began  to  give  a  loose  to  contumelious  language  and  virulent 

was 


312  A  beggarly  Scolc/nnan.  [a. d.  1754. 

was  roused  with  a  just  indignation,  and  pronounced  this 
memorable  sentence  upon  the  noble  authour  and  his  edi- 
tor. *  Sir,  he  was  a  scoundrel  and  a  coward' :  a  scoundrel, 
for  charging  a  blunderbuss  against  religion  and  morality ;  a 
coward,  because  he  had  not  resolution  to  fire  it  off  himself, 
but  left  half  a  crown  to  a  beggarly  Scotchman,  to  draw  the 
trigger  after  his  death'^ !'  Garrick,  who  I  can  attest  from 
my  own  knowledge,  had  his  mind  seasoned  with  pious  rev- 
erence, and  sincerely  disapproved  of  the  infidel  writings  of 
several,  whom,  in  the  course  of  his  almost  universal  gay  inter- 
course with  men  of  eminence,  he  treated  with  external  civil- 
ity, distinguished  himself  upon  this  occasion.  Mr.  Pelham 
having  died  on  the  very  day  on  which  Lord  Bolingbroke's 


invectives,  which  Boerhaave  was  so  little  pleased  with,  that  at  last  he 
could  not  forbear  asking  him,  whether  he  had  ever  read  the  author 
he  declaimed  against.' 

'  Lord  Shelburne  said  that  '  Bolingbroke  was  both  a  political  and 
personal  coward."     Fitzmaurice's  Shelburne,  i.  29. 

'•*  It  was  in  the  summer  of  this  year  that  Murphy  became  acquainted 
with  Johnson.  (See/i^j/,  1760.)  'The  first  striking  sentence  that  he 
heard  from  him  was  in  a  few  days  after  the  publication  of  Lord  Bo- 
lingbroke's posthumous  works.  Mr.  Garrick  asked  him,  "  if  he  had 
seen  them."  "Yes,  I  have  seen  them."  "What  do  you  think  of 
them .'"  "  Think  of  them  !"  He  made  a  long  pause,  and  then  re- 
plied :  "  Think  of  them  !  a  scoundrel  and  a  coward  !  A  scoundrel 
who  spent  his  life  in  charging  a  gun  against  Christianity;  and  a  cow- 
ard, who  was  afraid  of  hearing  the  report  of  his  own  gun  ;  but  left 
half-a-crown  to  a  hungry  Scotchman  to  draw  the  trigger  after  his 
death  !"  His  mind,  at  this  time  strained  and  over  laboured  by  con- 
stant exertion,  called  for  an  interval  of  repose  and  indolence.  But 
indolence  was  the  time  of  danger ;  it  was  then  that  his  spirits,  not 
employed  abroad,  turned  with  inward  hostility  against  himself.'  Mur- 
phy's Johnson,  p.  79,  and  Piozzi's  Anec.  p.  235.  Adam  Smith,  perhaps, 
had  this  saying  of  Johnson's  in  mind,  when  in  1776  he  refused  the 
request  of  the  dying  Hume  to  edit  after  his  death  his  Dialogues  on 
Natural  Religiott.  Hume  wrote  back  : — '  I  think  j^our  scruples  ground- 
less. Was  Mallet  anywise  hurt  by  his  publication  of  Lord  Boling- 
broke ?  He  received  an  office  afterwards  from  the  present  King  and 
Lord  Bute,  the  most  prudish  man  in  the  world.'  Smith  did  not  yield. 
J.  H.  Burton's  Hume,  ii.  491. 

works 


Aetat.45.]  Ode  on  Mr.  Pelkam's  death.  313 

works  came  out,  he  wrote  an  elegant  Ode  on  his  death,  be- 
ginning 

'  Let  others  hail  the  rising  sun, 
I  bow  to  that  whose  course  is  run ;' 

in  which  is  the  following  stanza : 

'The  same  sad  morn,  to  Church  and  State 
(So  for  our  sins  'twas  fix'd  by  fate,) 

A  double  stroke  was  given ; 
Black  as  the  whirlwinds  of  the  North, 
St.  John's  fell  genius  issued  forth. 

And  Pelham  fled  to  heaven'.' 

Johnson  this  year  found  an  interval  of  leisure  to  make 
an  excursion  to  Oxford,  for  the  purpose  of  consulting  the 
libraries  there.  Of  this,  and  of  many  interesting  circum- 
stances concerning  him,  during  a  part  of  his  life  when  he 
conversed  but  little  with  the  world,  I  am  enabled  to  give  a 
particular  account,  by  the  liberal  communications  of  the  Rev- 
erend Mr.  Thomas  Warton\  who  obligingly  furnished  me  with 
several  of  our  common  friend's  letters,  which  he  illustrated 
with  notes.     These  I  shall  insert  in  their  proper  places. 

'  According  to  Horace  Walpole  {Letters,  ii.  374),  Pelham  died  of  a 
surfeit.  As  Johnson  says  {Works,  viii.  310): — 'The  death  of  great 
men  is  not  always  proportioned  to  the  lustre  of  their  liv^es.  The 
death  of  Pope  was  imputed  by  some  of  his  friends  to  a  silver  sauce- 
pan, in  which  it  was  his  delight  to  heat  potted  lampreys.'  Fielding 
in  77/1?  Voyage  to  Lz'sbofi  ( JVorks,  x.  201)  records  : — '  I  was  at  the  worst 
on  that  memorable  day  when  the  public  lost  Mr.  Pelham.  From  that 
day  I  began  slowly,  as  it  were,  to  draw  my  feet  out  of  the  grave.'  '  "  I 
shall  now  hav^e  no  more  peace,"  the  King  said  with  a  sigh  ;  being  told 
of  his  Minister's  death.'     Walpole's  George  II,  i.  378. 

'  Thomas  Warton,  the  younger  brother  of  Dr.  Warton,  was  a  fellow 
of  Trinity  College,  Oxford.  He  was  Poetry  Professor  from  1758  to 
1768.  Mant's  JVarton.i.  xViv.  In  1785  he  was  made  Poet  Laureate. 
Id.  Ixxxiii.  Mr.  Mant,  telling  of  an  estrangement  between  Johnson 
and  the  Wartons,  says  that  he  had  heard  '  on  unquestionable  author- 
ity that  Johnson  had  lamented,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  that  the  Wartons 
had  jiot  called  on  him  for  the  last  four  years ;  and  that  he  has  been 
known  to  declare  that  Tom  Warton  was  the  only  man  of  genius  whom 
he  knew  without  a  heart.'    Id.  xxxix. 

Of 


314  Thomas   Warton,  [a. d.  1754. 

*To  THE  Reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Warton. 
♦Sir, 

'  It  is  but  an  ill  return  for  the  book  with  which  you  were 
pleased  to  favour  me',  to  have  delayed  my  thanks  for  it  till  now. 
I  am  too  apt  to  be  negligent ;  but  1  can  never  deliberately  shew 
my  disrespect  to  a  man  of  your  character :  and  I  now  pay  you  a 
very  honest  acknowledgement,  for  the  advancement  of  the  litera- 
ture of  our  native  country.  You  have  shewn  to  all,  who  shall  here- 
after attempt  the  study  of  our  ancient  authours.  the  way  to  success ; 
by  directing  them  to  the  perusal  of  the  books  which  those  authours 
had  read.  Of  this  method,  Hughes'  and  men  much  greater  than 
Hughes,  seem  never  to  have  thought.  The  reason  why  the  au- 
thours, which  are  yet  read,  of  the  sixteenth  century,  are  so  little 
understood,  is,  that  they  are  read  alone ;  and  no  help  is  borrowed 
from  those  who  lived  with  them,  or  before  them.  Some  part  of 
this  ignorance  I  hope  to  remove  by  my  book',  which  now  draws 
towards  its  end ;  but  which  I  cannot  finish  to  my  mind,  without 
visiting  the  libraries  at  Oxford,  which  I,  therefore,  hope  to  see  in  a 
fortnight*.  I  know  not  how  long  I  shall  stay,  or  where  I  shall 
lodge  :  but  shall  be  sure  to  look  for  you  at  my  arrival,  and  we  shall 
easily  settle  the  rest.     I  am,  dear  Sir, 

'  Your  most  obedient,  &c. 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'[London]  July  16,  1754.' 

Of  his  conversation  while  at  Oxford  at  this  time,  Mr. 
Warton  preserved  and  communicated  to  me  the  following 
memorial,  which,  though  not  written  with  all  the  care  and 
attention  which  that  learned  and  elegant  writer  bestowed  on 
those  compositions  which  he  intended  for  the  publick  eye, 
is  so  happily  expressed  in  an  easy  style,  that  I  should  injure 
it  by  any  alteration  : 

*  '  Observations  on  Spenser's  Fairy  Queen,  the  first  edition  of  which 
was  now  just  published.'    Warton. 

*  '  Hughes  published  an  edition  of  Spenser.'  Warton.  See  John- 
son's Works,  vii.  476. 

'  '  His  Dictionary.'    Warton. 

*  '  He  came  to  Oxford  within  a  fortnight,  and  stayed  about  five 
weeks.  He  lodged  at  a  house  called  Kettel-hall,  near  Trinity  College. 
But  during  this  visit  at  Oxford,  he  collected  nothing  in  the  libraries 
for  his  Dictionary.'    Warton. 

'When 


Aetat.  45.]  yohnsoiC s  visit  to  Oxford,  315 


'When  Johnson  came  to  Oxford  in  1754',  the  long  vacation  was 
beginning,  and  most  people  were  leaving  the  place.  This  was  the 
first  time  of  his  being  there,  after  quitting  the  University.  The 
next  morning  after  his  arrival,  he  wished  to  see  his  old  College, 
Pembroke.  I  went  with  him.  He  was  highly  pleased  to  find  all 
the  College-servants'  which  he  had  left  there  still  remaining,  par- 
ticularly a  very  old  butler^;  and  expressed  great  satisfaction  at 
being  recognised  by  them,  and  conversed  with  them  familiarly. 
He  waited  on  the  master,  Dr.  Radcliffe,  who  received  him  very 
coldly.  Johnson  at  least  expected,  that  the  master  would  order  a 
copy  of  his  Dictionary,  now  near  publication  :  but  the  master  did 
not  choose  to  talk  on  the  subject,  never  asked  Johnson  to  dine,  nor 
even  to  visit  him,  while  he  stayed  at  Oxford.  After  we  had  left 
the  lodgings,  Johnson  said  to  me,  "  There  lives  a  man,  who  lives  by 
the  revenues  of  literature,  and  will  not  move  a  finger  to  support  it. 
If  I  come  to  live  at  Oxford,  I  shall  take  up  my  abode  at  Trinity." 
We  then  called  on  the  Reverend  Mr.  Meeke,  one  of  the  fellows, 
and  of  Johnson's  standing.  Here  was  a  most  cordial  greeting  on 
both    sides.     On    leaving   him,  Johnson    said,  ''  I   used  to  think 

'  Pitt  this  year  described,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  a  visit  that  he 
had  paid  to  Oxford  the  summer  before.  He  and  his  friends  'were  at 
the  window  of  the  Angel  Inn  ;  a  lady  was  desired  to  sing  God  save 
great  George  our  King.  The  chorus  was  re-echoed  by  a  set  of  young 
lads  drinking  at  a  college  over  the  way  [Queen's],  but  with  additions 
of  rank  treason.'     Walpole's  George  II,  i.  413. 

'  A  Fellow  of  Pembroke  College,  of  Johnson's  time,  described  the 
college  servants  as  in  '  the  state  of  servitude  the  most  miserable  that 
can  be  conceived  amongst  so  many  masters.'  He  says  that  'the  kicks 
and  cuffs  and  bruises  they  submit  to  entitle  them,  when  those  who 
were  displeased  relent,'  to  the  compensation  that  is  afforded  by 
draughts  of  ale.  *  There  is  not  a  college  servant,  but  if  he  have 
learnt  to  suffer,  and  to  be  officious,  and  be  inclined  to  tipple,  may 
forget  his  cares  in  a  gallon  or  two  of  ale  every  day  of  his  life.'  Dr. 
yohftson  :  His  Friends,  &!^c.,  p.  45. 

'  It  was  against  the  Butler  that  Johnson,  in  his  college  days,  had 
written  an  epigram  : — 

'  Quid  mirum  Maro  quod  digne  canit  arma  virumque. 
Quid  quod  putidulum  nostra  Camoena  sonat.? 
Limosum  nobis  Promus  dat  callidus  haustum ; 

Virgilio  vires  uva  Falerna  dedit. 
Carmina  vis  nostri  scnbant  meliora  Poetae.'' 
Ingenium  jubeas  purior  haustus  alat.' 

Meeke 


3i6  Stories  of  old  college  days,  [a. d.  1754. 

Meeke  had  excellent  parts,  when  we  were  boys  together  at  the 
College  :  but,  alas  ! 

'Lost  in  a  convent's  solitary  gloom'!' 

I  remember,  at  the  classical  lecture  in  the  Hall,  I  could  not  bear 
Meeke's  superiority,  and  I  tried  to  sit  as  far  from  him  as  I  could, 
that  I  might  not  hear  him  construe." 

'  As  we  were  leaving  the  College,  he  said,  "  Here  I  translated 
Pope's  Messiah.  Which  do  you  think  is  the  best  line  in  it  ? — My 
own  favourite  is, 

'■Vallis  arotnaticas  fundit  Saronica  nubes^y^ 

I  told  him,  I  thought  it  a  very  sonorous  hexameter.  I  did  not  tell 
him,  it  was  not  in  the  Virgilian  style\  He  much  regretted  that 
\\\s  first  tutor*  was  dead ;  for  whom  he  seemed  to  retain  the  great- 
est regard.  He  said,  "  I  once  had  been  a  whole  morning  sliding 
in  Christ-Church  Meadow,  and  missed  his  lecture  in  logick.  After 
dinner,  he  sent  for  me  to  his  room.  I  expected  a  sharp  rebuke  for 
my  idleness,  and  went  with  a  beating  heart.  When  we  were  seated, 
he  told  me  he  had  sent  for  me  to  drink  a  glass  of  wine  with  him, 
and  to  tell  me,  he  was  not  angry  with  me  for  missing  his  lecture. 
This  was,  in  fact,  a  most  severe  reprimand.  Some  more  of  the 
boys  were  then  sent  for,  and  we  spent  a  very  pleasant  afternoon." 
Besides  Mr.  Meeke,  there  was  only  one  other  Fellow  of  Pembroke 
now  resident :  from  both  of  whom  Johnson  received  the  greatest 
civilities  during  this  visit,  and  they  pressed  him  very  much  to  have 
a  room  in  the  College. 

'In  the  course  of  this  visit  (1754,)  Johnson  and  I  walked,  three 

'  Pope,  Eloisa  to  ^Ibelard^  1.  38. 

*  Johnson  or  Warton  misquoted  the  line.     It  stands : — 

'  Mittit  aromaticas  vallis  Saronica  nubes.' 

Husbands's  Miscellany,  p.  112. 
'  De  Ouincey  {Works,  xiii.  162),  after  saying  that  Johnson  did  not 
understand  Latin  '  with  the  elaborate  and  circumstantial  accuracy 
required  for  the  editing  critically  of  a  Latin  classic,'  continues  : — '  But 
if  he  had  less  than  that,  he  also  had  more :  he  possessed  that  language 
in  a  way  that  no  extent  of  mere  critical  knowledge  could  confer.  He 
wrote  it  genially,  not  as  one  translating  into  it  painfully  from  English. 
but  as  one  using  it  for  his  original  (jrgan  of  thinking.  And  in  Latin 
verse  he  expressed  himself  at  times  with  the  energy  and  freedom  of  a 
Roman.' 

*  Mr.  Jorden.    See  ante,  p.  68. 

or 


Aetat.45.]       Mr.  Wise  s  house  at  Ellsfield.  317 

or  four  times,  to  Ellsfield,  a  village  beautifully  situated  about  three 
miles  from  Oxford,  to  see  Mr.  Wise,  Radclivian  librarian,  with 
•whom  Johnson  was  much  pleased.  At  this  place,  Mr.  Wise  had 
fitted  up  a  house  and  gardens,  in  a  singular  manner,  but  with  great 
taste.  Here  was  an  excellent  library  ;  particularly,  a  valuable  col- 
lection of  books  in  Northern  literature,  with  which  Johnson  was 
often  very  busy.  One  day  Mr.  Wise  read  to  us  a  dissertation 
which  he  was  preparing  for  the  press,  intitled,  "  A  History  and 
Chronology  of  the  fabulous  Ages."  Some  old  divinities  of  Thrace, 
related  to  the  Titans,  and  called  the  Cabiri,  made  a  very  important 
part  of  the  theory  of  this  piece ;  and  in  conversation  afterwards, 
Mr.  Wise  talked  much  of  his  Cabiri.  As  we  returned  to  Oxford 
in  the  evening,  I  out-walked  Johnson,  and  he  cried  out  Sufflamina, 
a  Latin  word  which  came  from  his  mouth  with  peculiar  grace,  and 
was  as  much  as  to  say,  Put  on  your  drag  chain.  Before  we  got 
home,  I  again  walked  too  fast  for  him  ;  and  he  now  cried  out, 
"Why,  you  walk  as  if  you  were  pursued  by  all  the  Cabiri  in  a 
body."  In  an  evening,  we  frequently  took  long  walks  from  Oxford 
into  the  country,  returning  to  supper.  Once,  in  our  way  home,  we 
viewed  the  ruins  of  the  abbies  of  Oseney  and  Rewley,  near  Oxford. 
After  at  least  half  an  hour's  silence,  Johnson  said,  "  I  viewed  them 
with  indignation' !"  We  had  then  a  long  conversation  on  Gothick 
buildings  ;  and  in  talking  of  the  form  of  old  halls,  he  said,  "  In 
these  halls,  the  fire  place  was  anciently  always  in  the  middle  of  the 
room%  till  the  Whigs  removed  it  on  one  side." — About  this  time 
there  had  been  an  execution  of  two  or  three  criminals  at  Oxford 
on  a  Monday.  Soon  afterwards,  one  day  at  dinner,  I  was  saying 
that  Mr.  Swinton  the  chaplain  of  the  gaol,  and  also  a  frequent 
preacher  before  the  University,  a  learned  man,  but  often  thought- 
less and  absent,  preached  the  condemnation-sermon  on  repentance, 
before  the  convicts,  on  the  preceding  day,  Sunday ;  and  that  in  the 
close  he  told  his  audience,  that  he  should  give  them  the  remainder 

'  Boswell  {Hebrides,  Aug.  19,  1773)  says  that  Johnson  looked  at  the 
ruins  at  St.  Andrew's  'with  a  strong  indignation.  I  happened  to  ask 
where  John  Knox  was  buried.  Dr.  Johnson  burst  out.  "  I  hope  in  the 
highway.     I  have  been  looking  at  his  reformations."  ' 

""  In  Erasmus  Philipps's  Diary  it  is  recorded  that  in  Pembroke  Col- 
lege early  in  every  November  '  was  kept  a  great  Gaudy  [feast],  when 
the  Master  dined  in  public,  and  the  juniors  (by  an  ancient  custom 
they  were  obliged  to  observe)  went  round  the  fire  in  the  hall.'  Notes 
6-  Queries,  2nd  S.  x.  443. 

of 


3i8  Rev.  Mr.  Meeke.  [a.d.  1754. 

of  what  he  had  to  say  on  the  subject,  the  next  Lord's  Day.  Upon 
which,  one  of  our  company,  a  Doctor  of  Divinity,  and  a  plain  mat- 
ter-of-fact man,  by  way  of  offering  an  apology  for  Mr.  Swinton, 
gravely  remarked,  that  he  had  probably  preached  the  same  sermon 
before  the  University :  "  Yes,  Sir,  (says  Johnson)  but  the  Univer- 
sity were  not  to  be  hanged  the  next  morning." 

'  1  forgot  to  observe  before,  that  when  he  left  Mr.  Meeke,  (as  I 
have  told  above)  he  added,  "  About  the  same  time  of  life,  Meeke 
was  left  behind  at  Oxford  to  feed  on  a  Fellowship,  and  I  went  to 
London  to  get  my  living  :  now.  Sir,  see  the  difference  of  our  liter- 
ary characters  !"  ' 

The  following  letter  was  written  by  Dr.  Johnson  to  Mr. 
Chambers,  of  Lincoln  College,  afterwards  Sir  Robert  Cham- 
bers, one  of  the  judges  in  India' : 

'To  Mr.  Chambers  of  Lincoln  College. 

'  Dear  Sir, 

*  The  commission  which  I  delayed  to  trouble  you  with  at  your 
departure,  I  am  now  obliged  to  send  you  ;  and  beg  that  you  will 
be  so  kind  as  to  carry  it  to  Mr.  Warton,  of  Trinity,  to  whom  I 
should  have  written  immediately,  but  that  I  know  not  if  he  be  yet 
come  back  to  Oxford. 

'  In  the  Catalogue  of  MSS.  of  Or.  Brit,  see  vol.  L  pag.  18.  MSS. 
Bodl.  Martyrium  xv.  martyrum  sub  yuliano,  aiutore  Theophylacto. 

'  It  is  desired  that  Mr.  Warton  will  inquire,  and  send  word,  what 
will  be  the  cost  of  transcribing  this  manuscript. 

'Vol.  II.  pag.  32.  Num.  1022.  58.  Coll.  Nov. — Commentaria  in 
Acta  Apostol. — Commeyit.  in  Sep  tern  Epistolas  Catholicas. 

'  He  is  desired  to  tell  what  is  the  age  of  each  of  these  manu- 
scripts :  and  what  it  will  cost  to  have  a  transcript  of  the  two  first 
pages  of  each. 

'  If  Mr.  Warton  be  not  in  Oxford,  you  may  try  if  you  can  get  it 
done  by  any  body  else  ;  or  stay  till  he  comes,  according  to  your 
own  convenience.     It  is  for  an  Italian  literato. 

'  The  answer  is  to  be  directed  to  his  Excellency  Mr.  Zon,  Vene- 
tian Resident,  Soho-Square. 

'  Communicated  by  the  Reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Warton,  who  had 
the  original.  Boswell.  In  the  imaginary  college  which  was  to  be 
opened  by  The  Club  at  St.  Andrew's,  Chambers  was  to  be  the  professor 
of  the  law  of  England.  See  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Aug.  25,  1773;  ^Iso 
post,]\x\y  5,  1773  and  March  30,  1774. 

'  I  hope, 


Aetat.45.]  ^o/uisou  dcsivcs  tJic  Degree  of  M.A.         319 

'  I  hope,  dear  Sir,  that  you  do  not  regret  the  change  of  London 
for  Oxford.  Mr.  Baretti  is  well,  and  Miss  Williams' ;  and  we  shall 
all  be  glad  to  hear  from  you,  whenever  you  shall  be  so  kind  as  to 
write  to,  Sir,  '  Your  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

'  Nov.  21,  1754.' 

The  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  which,  it  has  been  observed', 
could  not  be  obtained  for  him  at  an  early  period  of  his  life, 
was  now  considered  as  an  honour  of  considerable  importance, 
in  order  to  grace  the  title-page  of  his  Dictionary ;  and  his 
character  in  the  literary  world  being  by  this  time  deservedly 
high,  his  friends  thought  that,  if  proper  exertions  were  made, 
the  University  of  Oxford  would  pay  him  the  compliment'. 

'  '  I  presume  she  was  a  relation  of  Mr.  Zachariah  Williams,  who  died 
in  his  eighty-third  year,  July  12,  1755-  When  Dr.  Johnson  was  with 
me  at  Oxford,  in  1755,  he  gave  to  the  Bodleian  Library  a  thin  quarto 
of  twenty-one  pages,  a  work  in  Italian,  with  an  English  translation  on 
the  opposite  page.  The  English  title-page  is  this :  "  An  Account  of 
an  Attempt  to  ascertain  the  Longitude  at  Sea,  by  an  exact  Variation 
of  the  Magnetical  Needle,  &c.  By  Zachariah  Williams.  London, 
printed  for  Dodsley,  1755."  The  English  translation,  from  the  strong- 
est internal  marks,  is  unquestionably  the  work  of  Johnson.  In  a  blank 
leaf,  Johnson  has  written  the  age,  and  time  of  death,  of  the  authour 
Z.  Williams,  as  I  have  said  above.  On  another  blank  leaf,  is  pasted 
a  paragraph  from  a  newspaper,  of  the  death  and  character  of  Williams, 
which  is  plainly  written  by  Johnson.  He  was  very  anxious  about 
placing  this  book  in  the  Bodleian  :  and,  for  fear  of  any  omission  or 
mistake,  he  entered,  in  the  great  Catalogue,  the  title-page  of  it  with 
his  own  hand.'     Warton. — Boswkll. 

In  this  statement  there  is  a  slight  mistake.  The  English  account, 
which  was  written  by  Johnson,  was  the  original;  the  Italian  was  a 
translation,  dion^hy 'Q2lX^\X\.  See  ^cj'/,  end  of  1755.  Malone.  John- 
son has  twice  entered  in  his  own  hand  that  '  Zachariah  Williams,  died 
July  12,  1755,  in  his  eighty-third  year,'  and  also  on  the  title-page  that 
he  was  82. 

*  See  ante,  p.  i  54. 

'  The  compliment  was,  as  it  were,  a  mutual  one.  Mr.  Wise  urged 
Thomas  Warton  to  get  the  degree  conferred  before  the  Dictionary 
was  published.  '  It  is  in  truth,'  he  wrote, '  doing  ourselves  more  hon- 
our than  him,  to  have  such  a  work  done  by  an  Oxford  hand,  and  so 
able  a  one  too,  and  will  show  that  we  have  not  lost  all  regard  for  good 

'To 


320  Collins  the  Poet.  [a.d.  1754. 

'To  THE  Reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Warton. 

'Dear  Sir, 

'  I  am  extremely  obliged  to  you  and  to  Mr.  Wise,  for  the  un- 
common care  which  you  have  taken  of  my  interest'  :  if  you  can 
accomplish  your  kind  design,  I  shall  certainly  take  me  a  little 
habitation  among  you. 

'  The  books  which  1  promised  to  Mr.  Wise",  1  have  not  been  able 
to  procure  :  but  I  shall  send  him  a  Finnick  Dictionary,  the  only 
copy,  perhaps,  in  England,  which  was  presented  me  by  a  learned 
Swede  :  but  I  keep  it  back,  that  it  may  make  a  set  of  my  own 
books"  of  the  new  edition,  with  which  1  shall  accompany  it,  more 
welcome.     You  will  assure  him  of  my  gratitude. 

'  Poor  dear  Collins^ ! — Would  a  letter  give  him  any  pleasure  .^  I 
have  a  mind  to  write. 


letters,  as  has  been  too  often  imputed  to  us  by  our  enemies.'    Wooll's 
Warton,  p.  228. 

'  '  In  procuring  him  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  by  diploma  at 
Oxford.'    Warton. — Boswell. 

'  '  Lately  fellow  of  Trinity  College,  and  at  this  time  Radclixian 
librarian,  at  Oxford.  He  was  a  man  of  very  considerable  learning. 
and  eminently  skilled  in  Roman  and  Anglo-Saxon  antiquities.  He 
died  in  1767.'     Warton. — Roswkll. 

*  No  doubt  The  Rambler. 

*  'Collins  (the  poet)  was  at  this  time  at  Oxford,  on  a  visit  to  Mr. 
Warton ;  but  labouring  under  the  most  deplorable  languor  of  body, 
and  dejection  of  mind.'  Warton. — Boswell.  Johnson,  writing  to 
Dr.  Warton  on  March  8,  1754,  thus  speaks  of  Collins : — '  1  knew  him  a 
few  years  ago  full  of  hopes,  and  full  of  projects,  versed  in  many  lan- 
guages, high  in  fancy,  and  strong  in  retention.  This  busy  and  forcible 
mind  is  now  under  the  government  of  those  who  lately  would  not 
have  been  able  to  comprehend  the  least  and  most  narrow  of  its  de- 
signs.' Wooll's  Warton,  \.  219.  Again,  on  Dec.  24,  1754: — '  Poor  dear 
Collins  !  Let  me  know  whether  you  think  it  would  give  him  pleasure 
if  I  should  write  to  him.  I  hav-e  often  been  near  his  state,  and  there- 
fore have  it  in  great  commiseration."  lb.  p.  229.  Again,  on  April  15, 
1756: — "That  man  is  no  common  loss.  The  moralists  all  talk  of  the 
uncertainty  of  fortune,  and  the  transitoriness  of  beauty :  but  it  is  yet 
more  dreadful  to  consider  that  the  powers  of  the  mind  are  equally 
liable  to  change,  that  understanding  may  make  its  appearance  and 
depart,  that  it  may  blaze  and  expire.'  lb.  p.  239.  See  post,  beginning 
of  1763. 

'  I  am 


Aetat.  45.]  Collins  the  Poet.  321 

'  I  am  glad  of  your  hindrance  in  your  Spenserian  design',  yet  1 
would  not  have  it  delayed.  Three  hours  a  day  stolen  from  sleep 
and  amusement  will  produce  it.  Let  a  Servitour"  transcribe  the 
quotations,  and  interleave  them  with  references,  to  save  time. 
This  will  shorten  the  work,  and  lessen  the  fatigue. 

'  Can  I  do  any  thing  to  promoting  the  diploma  ?  I  would  not 
be  wanting  to  co-operate  with  your  kindness  ;  of  which,  whatever 
be  the  effect,  I  shall  be,  dear  Sir, 

'  Your  most  obliged,  «Scc. 

'[London.]  Nov.  28,  1754.'  '  Sam.  Johnson.' 

^         „  To  THE  Same. 

*  Dear  Sir, 

'  I  am  extremely  sensible  of  the  favour  done  me,  both  by  Mr. 
Wise  and  yourself.  The  book^  cannot,  I  think,  be  printed  in  less 
than  six  weeks,  nor  probably  so  soon  ;  and  I  will  keep  back  the 
title-page,  for  such  an  insertion  as  you  seem  to  promise  me.  Be 
pleased  to  let  me  know  what  money  I  shall  send  you,  for  bearing 
the  expence  of  the  affair ;  and  I  will  take  care  that  you  may  have 
it  ready  at  your  hand. 

'  I  had  lately  the  favour  of  a  letter  from  your  brother,  with  some 
account  of  poor  Collins,  for  whom  I  am  much  concerned.  1  have 
a  notion,  that  by  very  great  temperance,  or  more  properly  absti- 
nence, he  may  yet  recover'. 

'  There  is  an  old  English  and  Latin  book  of  poems  by  Barclay, 
called  "The  Ship  of  Fools ;"  at  the  end  of  which  are  a  number  of 
Eglogues  \  so  he  writes  it,  from  Egioga^,  which  are  probably  the 

*  '  Of  publishing  a  volume  of  observations  on  the  best  of  Spenser's 
works.  It  was  hindered  by  my  taking  pupils  in  this  College."  War- 
TON. — BOSWELL. 

'  '  Young  students  of  the  lowest  rank  at  Oxford  are  so  called.' 
Warton. — BoswELL.     See  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Aug.  28,  1773. 
"  '  His  Dictionary.'     Warton. — Boswell. 

*  Johnson  says  {IVorks,  viii.  403)  that  when  Collins  began  to  feel  the 
approaches  of  his  dreadful  malady  '  with  the  usual  weakness  of  men 
so  diseased  he  eagerly  snatched  that  temporary  relief  with  which  the 
table  and  the  bottle  flatter  and  seduce.' 

'  '  Petrarch,  finding  nothing  in  the  word  eclogue  of  rural  meaning, 
supposed  it  to  be  corrupted  by  the  copiers,  and  therefore  called  his 
own  pastorals  aeglogues,  by  which  he  meant  to  express  the  talk  of 
goatherds,  though  it  will  mean  only  the  talk  of  goats.  This  new  name 
was  adopted  by  subsequent  writers.'    Johnson's  Works,  viii.  390. 

I. — 21  first 


32  2  The  death  of  a   Wife.  [a. d,  1755. 

first  in  our  language.  If  you  cannot  find  the  book  I  will  get  Mr. 
Dodsley  to  send  it  you. 

'  1  shall  be  extremely  glad  to  hear  from  you  again,  to  know,  if 
the  afifair  proceeds'.  I  have  mentioned  it  to  none  of  my  friends 
for  fear  of  being  laughed  at  for  my  disappointment. 

'  You  know  poor  Mr.  Uodsley  has  lost  his  wife ;  I  believe  he  is 
much  affected.  1  hope  he  will  not  suffer  so  much  as  I  yet  suffer 
for  the  loss  of  mine. 

Ol'^ot.      ri  fi*  o(/xoi ;   Qvrfra  yufj  nfTtiivdayLfv''. 

I  have  ever  since  seemed  to  myself  broken  oft"  from  mankind  ;  a 
kind  of  solitary  wanderer  in  the  wild  of  life,  without  any  direction, 
or  fixed  point  of  view  :  a  gloomy  gazer  on  a  world  to  which  I  have 
little  relation.  Yet  1  would  endeavour,  by  the  help  of  you  and  your 
brother,  to  supply  the  want  of  closer  union,  by  friendship :  and 
hope  to  have  long  the  pleasure  of  being,  dear  Sir, 

'  Most  affectionately  your's, 
'  [London.]  Dec.  21.  i7S4-"  '  ^''''-  John.son.' 

1755:  i4?.TAT.  46.] — In  1755  wc  behold  him  to  frreat  ad- 
vantage ;  his  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  conferred  upon  him, 
his  Dictionary  published,  his  correspondence  animated,  his 
benevolence  exercised. 

'To  THE  Reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Warton. 

'Dear  Sir, 

'  I  wrote  to  you  some  weeks  ago,  but  believe  did  not  direct 
accurately,  and  therefore  know  not  whether  you  had  my  letter.  I 
would,  likewise,  write  to  your  brother,  but  know  not  where  to  find 
him.  I  now  begin  to  see  land,  after  having  wandered,  according 
to  Mr.  Warburton's  phrase,  in  this  vast  sea  of  words.  What  recep- 
tion I  shall  meet  with  on  the  shore,  1  know  not ;  whether  the  sound 
of  bells,  and  acclamations  of  the  people,  which  Ariosto  talks  of  in 
his   last  Canto',  or  a  general    murmur  of  dislike,  I    know  not: 

'  '  Of  the  degree  at  Oxford."    Warton. — Boswell. 
"^  This  verse  is  from  the  long-lost  Bellerophon,  a  tragedy  by  Euripides. 
It  is  preserved  by  Suidas.    Charles  BuRXEV.    •  Alas !  but  wherefore 
alas?     Man  is  born  to  sorrow." 

»  '  Sento  venir  per  allegrezza  un  tuono 

Que  fremer  I'aria,  e  rimbombar  fa  I'onde-. 
Odo  di  squille,"  &c. 

Orlando  Furioso,  c.  xlvi.  s.  2. 

whether 


Aetat.  46.]         His  doubts  as  to  the  critics.  323 

whetlier  I  shall  find  upon  the  coast  a  Calypso  that  will  court,  or  a 
Polypheme  that  will  resist.  But  if  Polypheme  comes,  have  at  his 
eye.  I  hope,  however,  the  criticks  will  let  me  be  at  peace  ;  for 
though  I  do  not  much  fear  their  skill  and  strength,  I  am  a  little 
afraid  of  myself,  and  would  not  willingly  feel  so  much  ill-will  in  my 
bosom  as  literary  quarrels  are  apt  to  excite. 

*  Mr.  Baretti  is  about  a  work  for  which  he  is  in  great  want  of 
Crescimbcni,  which  you  may  have  again  when  you  please. 

'There  is  nothing  considerable  done  or  doing  among  us  here. 
We  are  not,  perhaps,  as  innocent  as  villagers,  but  most  of  us  seem 
to  be  as  idle.  I  hope,  however,  you  are  busy;  and  should  be  glad 
to  know  what  you  are  doing. 

'  I  am,  dearest  Sir, 

'  Your  humble  servant, 

•[London.]  Feb.  4. 1755.'  '  Sam.  Johnson.' 

To  THE  Same. 
'  Dear  Sir, 

'  1  received  your  letter  this  day,  with  great  sense  of  the  favour 

that  has  been  done  me' ;    for  which    I  return   my  most  sincere 

thanks  :  and  entreat  you  to  pay  to  Mr.  Wise  such  returns  as  I 

ought  to  make  for  so  much  kindness  so  little  deserved. 

'  I  sent  Mr.  Wise  the  Lexicon^  and  afterwards  wrote  to  him  ;  but 
know  not  whether  he  had  either  the  book  or  letter.  Be  so  good 
as  to  contrive  to  enquire. 

'  But  why  does  my  dear  Mr.  Warton  tell  me  nothing  of  himself  1 
Where  hangs  the  new  volume'  ?  Can  I  help  ?  Let  not  the  past 
labour  be  lost,  for  want  of  a  little  more  :  but  snatch  what  time  you 
can  from  the  Hall,  and  the  pupils',  and  the  coffee-house,  and  the 
parks\  and  complete  your  design.     I  am,  dear  Sir,  &:c. 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'[London,]  Feb.  4,  1755.' 

»  '  His  degree  had  now  past,  according  to  the  usual  form,  the  suf- 
frages of  the  heads  of  Colleges ;  but  was  not  yet  finally  granted  by 
the  University.  It  was  carried  without  a  single  dissentient  voice.' 
Warton. — Boswell. 

■  '  On  Spenser.'    Warton. — Boswell. 

=  Lord  Eldon  wrote  of  him  : — '  Poor  Tom  Warton  !  He  was  a  tutor 
at  Trinity;  at  the  beginning  of  every  term  he  used  to  send  to  his  pu- 
pils to  know  whether  they  would  wish  to  attend  lecture  that  term.' 
Swiss's  Eldon,  iii.  302. 

*  The  fields  north  of  Oxford. 

To 


324  Dr.  King.  [A.D.  1755. 

To  THE  Same. 
'  Dear  Sir, 

'  I  had  a  letter  last  week  from  Mr.  Wise,  but  have  yet  heard 
nothing  from  you,  nor  know  in  what  state  my  affair  stands'  ;  of 
which  I  beg  you  to  inform  me,  if  you  can,  to-morrow,  by  the  re- 
turn of  the  post. 

'  Mr.  Wise  sends  me  word,  that  he  has  not  had  the  Finnick  Lexi- 
con yet,  which  I  sent  some  time  ago  ;  and  if  he  has  it  not,  you  must 
enquire  after  it.      However,  do  not  let  your  letter  stay  for  that. 

'  Your  brother,  who  is  a  better  correspondent  than  you,  and  not 
much  better,  sends  me  word,  that  your  pupils  keep  you  in  College  : 
but  do  they  keep  you  from  writing  too .-'  Let  them,  at  least,  give 
you  time  to  write  to,  dear  Sir, 

'  V'our  most  affectionate,  »SiC. 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'[London,]  Feb.  13,  1755.' 

,^^  To  THE  Same. 

'  Dear  Sir, 

'  Dr.  King'^  was  with  me  a  few  minutes  before  your  letter  ;  this, 

however,  is  the  first  instance  in  which  your  kind  intentions  to  me 

have  ever  been  frustrated^     I  have  now  the  full  effect  of  your  care 

'  'Of  the  degree.'     Warton. — Boswell. 

'  '  Principal  of  St.  Mary  Hall  at  Oxford.  He  brought  with  him  the 
diploma  from  Oxford.'  Warton. — Boswell.  Dr.  King  {Anec.  p.  196) 
says  that  he  was  one  of  the  Jacobites  who  were  presented  to  the  Pre- 
tender when,  in  September  1750,  he  paid  a  stealthy  visit  to  England. 
The  Pretender  in  1783  told  Sir  Horace  Mann  that  he  was  in  London 
in  that  very  month  and  year  and  had  met  fifty  of  his  friends,  among 
whom  was  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland,  the  future  Chancellor  of  the 
University  of  Oxford.  Mahon's  Englafid,  iv.  ii.  Hume  places  the 
visit  in  1753.  Burtons  Hume,  ii.462.  See  also  in  Boswell's  Hebrides, 
the  account  of  the  Young  Pretender.  In  1754,  writes  Lord  Shelburne, 
'  Dr.  King  in  his  speech  upon  opening  the  Radcliflfe  Library  at  Oxford, 
before  a  full  theatre  introduced  three  times  the  word  Redeat,  pausing 
each  time  for  a  considerable  space,  during  which  the  most  unbounded 
applause  shook  the  theatre,  which  was  filled  with  a  vast  body  of  peers, 
members  of  parliament,  and  men  of  property.  Soon  after  the  rebel- 
lion [of  1745],  speaking  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  he  described  him 
as  a  man,  qui  timet  omnia  prater  Deum.  I  presented  this  same  Dr. 
King  to  George  HI.  in  1760.'     Fitzmaurice's  Shelburne,  i.  35. 

'  '  I  suppose  Johnson   means  that  my  kind  intention  of  being  the 

and 


Aetat.  46.J    The  Chancellor  of  Oxford  s  letter.  325 

and  benevolence ;  and  am  far  from  thinking  it  a  slight  honour,  or 
a  small  advantage  ;  since  it  will  put  the  enjoyment  of  your  conver- 
sation more  frequently  in  the  power  of,  dear  Sir, 

'  Your  most  obliged  and  affectionate 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

'  P.S.  I  have  enclosed  a  letter  to  the  Vice-Chancellor',  which  you 
will  read ;  and,  if  you  like  it,  seal  and  give  him. 
'[London,]  Feb.  1755.' 

As  the  Publick  will  doubtless  be  pleased  to  see  the  whole 
progress  of  this  well-earned  academical  honour,  I  shall  insert 
the  Chancellor  of  Oxford's  letter  to  the  University*,  the  di- 
ploma, and  Johnson's  letter  of  thanks  to  the  Vice-Chancellor. 

^To  the  Reverend  Dr.  Huddesford,  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  Univer- 
sity ^Oxford  ;  to  be  communicated  to  the  Heads  of  Houses,  and  pro- 
posed in  Convocation. 

'  Mr.  Vice-Chancellor,  and  Gentlemen, 

'  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson,  who  was  formerly  of  Pembroke  College, 
having  very  eminently  distinguished  himself  by  the  publication  of 
a  series  of  essays,  excellently  calculated  to  form  the  manners  of  the 
people,  and  in  which  the  cause  of  religion  and  morality  is  every 
where  maintained  by  the  strongest  powers  of  argument  and  lan- 
guage ;  and  who  shortly  intends  to  publish  a  Dictionary  of  the  Eng- 
lish Tongue,  formed  on  a  new  plan,  and  executed  with  the  greatest 
labour  and  judgement :  I  persuade  myself  that  I  shall  act  agree- 
ably to  the  sentiments  of  the  whole  University,  in  desiring  that  it 
may  be  proposed  in  convocation  to  confer  on  him  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  by  diploma,  to  which  I  readily  give  my  consent; 
and  am, 

'  Mr.  Vice-Chancellor,  and  Gentlemen, 

'  Your  affectionate  friend  and  servant, 

'Grosvenor-street,  Feb.  4,  1755.'  'Arran  .' 


first  to  give  him  the  good  news  of  the  degree  being  granted  was 
frustrated,  because  Dr.  King  brought  it  before  my  intelligence  ar- 
rived.'     WaRTON. — B0S\VELL. 

'  '  Dr.  Huddesford,  President  of  Trinity  College.'     Warton. — Bos- 

WELL. 

*  Extracted  from  the  Convocation-Register.  Oxford.     Boswell. 
'  The  Earl  of  Arran,  '  the  last  male  of  the  illustrious  House  of  Or- 

Term. 


326  Diploma  Magistri  Johnson.  [a.d.  1755. 

Term.  S'". 
Hilarii.  'Diploma  Magistri  Johnson. 

1755- 

'  CANCELLARIUS,  Magistri  et  Scholares  UniversHatis  Oxoni- 
ensis  omnibus  ad  quos  hoc  presens  scriptiim  perrenerit.  salutem  in 
Domino  sempitcrnam. 

'  Ciim  eiim  infinem  gracilis  academici  a  majoribus  nostris  institutifue- 
rint,  ut  viri  ingenio  et  dodrind  pra^stantcs  iitidis  quoque  prceter  cceteros 
insignireniur;  ciimque  vir  doctissimus  Samuel  Johnson  c  Collegio  Pem- 
brochiensi,  scriptis  siiis  popidarium  mores  in/ormantibus  dtidiim  literato 
orbi  innotucrit ;  quin  et  lingua;  patriiz  tutn  ornandic  tum  stabilienda. 
{Lexicon  scilicet  Anglicanum  summo  studio,  summo  d  se  judicio  conges- 
tum  propediem  editurus)  etiam  nunc  utilissimam  impendat  operant ;  Nos 
igitur  Cancellarius,  Magistri,  et  Scholares  antedictt,  ne  virum  de  Uteris 
humanioribus  optime  meritum  diutius  inhonoratum  prcetereamus,  in 
solenni  Convocatione  Doctorutn,  Magistrorum,  Regentium,  et  tiofi  Re- 
gentium,  decimo  die  Mcnsis  Februarii  Anno  Domini  Millesimo  Septin- 
gentesimo  Quinquagesimo  quinto  habita,  prcefatum  virum  Samuelem 
Johnson  {conspirantibus  omnium  suffragiis)  Magistrum  in  Artibus 
renunciavimus  et  constituimus ;  eumque,  virtute  prcEscntis  diplomatis, 
singulis  juribus  privilcgiis  et  honoribus  ad  istum  gradum  qudqud,  per- 
tinentibus  frui  et  gaudere  jussimus. 


mond,'  was  the  third  Chancellor  in  succession  that  that  family  had 
given  to  the  University.  The  first  of  the  three,  the  famous  Duke  of 
Ormond,  had,  on  his  death  in  1688,  been  succeeded  by  his  grandson, 
the  young  Duke.  Macaulay's  England,  iii.  159.  He,  on  his  impeach- 
ment and  flight  from  England  in  171 5,  was  succeeded  by  his  brother, 
the  Earl  of  Arran.  Richardson,  writing  in  1754  {Carres,  ii.  198),  said 
of  the  University. '  Forty  years  ago  it  chose  a  Chancellor  in  despite 
of  the  present  reigning  family,  whose  whole  merit  was  that  he  was 
the  brother  of  a  perjured,  yet  weak,  rebel.'  On  Arran's  death  in  1758. 
the  Earl  of  Westmoreland, '  old  dull  Westmoreland  '  as  Walpole  calls 
him  {Letters,  \.  290),  was  elected.  It  was  at  his  installation  that  John- 
son clapped  his  hands  till  they  were  sore  at  Dr.  King's  speech  {post, 
1759).  '  I  hear,'  wrote  Walpole  of  what  he  calls  the  coronatton  at  Ox- 
ford, •  my  Lord  Westmoreland's  own  retinue  was  all  be-James'd  with 
true-blue  ribands."  Letters,  iii.  237.  It  is  remarkable  that  this  noble- 
man, who  in  early  life  was  a  Whig,  had  commanded  '  the  body  of 
troops  which  George  I.  had  been  obliged  to  send  to  Oxford,  to  teach 
the  University  the  only  kind  of  passive  obedience  which  they  did  not 
approve.'     Walpole's  George  //,  iii.  167. 

'/« 


Aetat.46.]  Johnsons  letter  of  thanks.  327 

'  In  aijus  rei  testimonium  sigillum  Universitatis  Oxoniensis  prcesenti- 
bus  apponifecimus. 

''Datum  in  Domo  nostrcB  Convocatiotiis  die  20°  Mens  is  Feb. 
Anno  Dom.  prcEdicto. 

'  Diploma  supra  scriptum  per  Registrarium  tectum  erat,  et  ex  decreto 
venerabilis  Domiis  communi  Universitatis  sigillo  munitum\' 

'  Dom.  Doctori  Huddesford,  Oxoniensis  Academi/E  Vice- 
Cancellario. 

'  lA^GRA  TUS  plane  et  tibi  et  mihi  videar,  ?iisi  quanta  me  gaudio 
affecerint^  quos  nuper  mihi  hof lores  {te  credo  auctore)  decrevit  Senatus 
Academicus,  literarum,  quo  tameri  nihil  levins,  officio,  significetn:  ingratus 
etiam,  nisi  comiiatem,  qua  vir  eximius"  7niJii  vestri  testimonium  amoris 
in  manus  tradidit,  agnoscam  et  laudcm.  Si  quid  est  unde  rei  tarn 
gratcB  accedat  gratia,  hoc  ipso  magis  mihi  placet,  quod  eo  teittpore  in 
ordines  Acadcmicos  denuo  cooptatus  sim,  quo  tuam  imminuere  auctori- 
tatem,fama}nque  Oxonii  lc£dere\  omnibus  modis  conantur  homines  vafri, 
nee  tamen  acuti:  quibus  ego,  prout  viro  umbratico  lieu  it,  semper  restiti, 
semper  restiturus.  Qui  enim,  inter  has  rerufn  procellas,  vel  Tibi  vel 
Academics  defuerit,  ilium  virtuti  et  Uteris,  sibique  et  posteris,  defuturum 
existimo. 

'  S.  Johnson.' 

*To  THE  Reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Warton. 
'  Dear  Sir, 

'  After  I  received  my  diploma.  I  wrote  you  a  letter  of  thanks, 
with  a  letter  to  the  Vice-Chancellor,  and  sent  another  to  Mr.  Wise  ; 
but  have  heard  from  nobody  since,  and  begin  to   think  myself 


'  The  original  is  in  my  possession.     Boswell. 

"  We  may  conceive  what  a  high  gratification  it  must  have  been  to 
Johnson  to  receive  his  diploma  from  the  hands  of  the  great  Di .  King, 
whose  principles  were  so  congenial  with  his  own.     Boswell. 

'  Johnson  here  alludes,  I  believe,  to  the  charge  of  disloyalty  brought 
against  the  University  at  the  time  of  the  famous  contested  election 
for  Oxfordshire  in  1754.  A  copy  of  treasonable  verses  was  found,  it 
was  said,  near  the  market-place  in  Oxford,  and  the  grand  jur\'  made  a 
presentment  thereon.  'We  must  add,' they  concluded,  'that  it  is  the 
highest  aggravation  of  this  crime  to  have  a  libel  of  a  nature  so  false 
and  scandalous,  published  in  a  famous  University,  &c.'  Gent.  Mag. 
xxiv.  339.  A  reward  of  £200  was  offered  in  the  London  Gazette  for  the 
detection  of  the  writer  or  publisher.    lb,  p.  377. 

forgotten. 


328  A  projected  Review.  [a.d.  17M. 


forgotten.  It  is  true,  I  sent  you  a  double  letter',  and  you  may  fear 
an  expensive  correspondent ;  but  I  would  have  taken  it  kindly,  if 
you  had  returned  it  treble  :  and  what  is  a  double  letter  to  a  petty 
king,  that  \iz.\\r\^  fellowship  and  fines,  can  sleep  without  a  Modus  in 
his  head"^  ? 

'  Dear  Mr.  Warton,  let  me  hear  from  you,  and  tell  me  something, 
I  care  not  what,  so  I  hear  it  but  from  you.  Something  1  will  tell 
you : — I  hope  to  see  my  Dictionary  bound  and  lettered,  next  week  ; — 
vastd  mole  superbus.  And  I  have  a  great  mind  to  come  to  Oxford 
at  Easter ;  but  you  will  not  invite  me.  Shall  I  come  uninvited,  or 
stay  here  where  nobody  perhaps  would  miss  me  if  I  went  ?  A  hard 
choice  !     But  such  is  the  world  to,  dear  Sir, 

'  Yours,  &c. 

'Sam.  Johnson.' 

'[London]  March  20,  1755. 

To  THE  Same. 
'Dear  Sir, 

'Though  not  to  write,  when  a  man  can  write  so  well,  is  an 
offence  sufficiently  heinous,  yet  I  shall  pass  it  by.  I  am  very  glad 
that  the  Vice-Chancellor  was  pleased  with  my  note.  I  shall  impa- 
tiently expect  you  at  London,  that  we  may  consider  what  to  do 
next.  I  intend  in  the  winter  to  open  a  Bibliothequc,  and  remember, 
that  you  are  to  subscribe  a  sheet  a  year ;  let  us  try,  likewise,  if  we 


'  A  single  letter  was  a  single  piece  of  paper;  a  second  piece  of 
paper,  however  small,  or  any  inclosure  constituted  a  double  letter ; 
it  was  not  the  habit  to  prepay  the  postage.  The  charge  for  a  single 
letter  to  Oxford  at  this  time  was  three-pence,  which  was  gradually  in- 
creased till  in  181 2  it  was  eight-pence.     Penny  Cyclo.  xviii.  455. 

"  '  The  words  in  Italicks  are  allusions  to  passages  in  Mr.  Warton's 
poem,  called  The  Progress  of  Discontent,  now  lately  published.'  War- 
ton. — BOSWELL. 

'  And  now  intent  on  new  designs, 
Sighs  for  a  fellowship  —  and  fines. 
****** 

These  fellowships  are  pretty  things, 
We  live  indeed  like  petty  kings. 

****** 

And  ev'ry  night  I  went  to  bed, 
Without  a  Modus  in  my  head.' 

Warton's  Poems,  ii.  192. 
For  modus  und  fines  see  post,  April  25,  1778. 

cannot 


Aetat.46.]  Dr.  Maty.  329 

cannot  persuade  your  brother  to  subscribe  another.  My  book  is 
now  coming  in  luminis  oras\  What  will  be  its  fate  I  know  not,  nor 
think  much,  because  thinking  is  to  no  purpose.  It  must  stand  the 
censure  of  the  great  vulgar  and  the  smalP ;  of  those  that  understand 
it,  and  that  understand  it  not.  But  in  all  this,  I  suffer  not  alone : 
every  writer  has  the  same  difficulties,  and,  perhaps,  every  writer 
talks  of  them  more  than  he  thinks. 

'  You  will  be  pleased  to  make  my  compliments  to  all  my  friends: 
and  be  so  kind,  at  every  idle  hour,  as  to  remember,  dear  Sir, 

'Your,  &c. 

'Sam.  Johnson.' 

'[London.]  March  25,  1755.' 

Dr.  Adams  told  me,  that  this  scheme  of  a  BibliotJieque  was 
a  serious  one :  for  upon  his  visiting  him  one  day,  he  found 
his  parlour  floor  covered  with  parcels  of  foreign  and  English 
literary  journals,  and  he  told  Dr.  Adams  he  meant  to  under- 
take a  Review.  '  How,  Sir,  (said  Dr.  Adams,)  can  you  think 
of  doing  it  alone  ?  All  branches  of  knowledge  must  be  con- 
sidered in  it.  Do  you  know  Mathematicks  ?  Do  you  know 
Natural  History?'  Johnson  answered, 'Why,  Sir,  I  must  do 
as  well  as  I  can.  My  chief  purpose  is  to  give  my  country- 
men a  view  of  what  is  doing  in  literature  upon  the  continent ; 
and  I  shall  have,  in  a  good  measure,  the  choice  of  my  sub- 
ject, for  I  shall  select  such  books  as  I  best  understand.'  Dr. 
Adams  suggested,  that  as  Dr.  Maty  had  just  then  finished  his 
BibliotJiiqiie  Britanniquc^ ,  which  was  a  well-executed  work, 
giving  foreigners  an  account  of  British  publications,  he  might, 
with  great  advantage,  assume  him  as  an  assistant.  '  Hi\ 
(said  Johnson)  the  little  black  dog  !  I'd  throw  him  into  the 
Thames\'     The  scheme,  however,  was  dropped. 

•  Lucretius,  i.  23. 

•  '  Hence  ye  prophane ;  I  hate  ye  all. 

Both  the  Great  Vulgar  and  the  Small.' 

Cowley's  hnit.  of  Horace,  Odes,  iii.  I. 
'  Journal  Br itanntque.     It  was  to  Maty  that  Gibbon  submitted  the 
manuscript  of  his  first  work.     Gibbon's  Misc.  Works,  i.  123. 

•  Maty,  as  Prof,  de  Morgan  pointed  out,  had  in  the  autumn  of  1755 
been  guilty  of  'wilful  suppression  of  the  circumstances  of  Johnson's 
attack  on  Lord  Chesterfield.'     In  an  article  in  his  Journal  he  regrets 

In 


330  Dr.  BircJis  letter.  (a.d.  1755. 

In  one  of  his  little  memorandum-books  I  find  the  follow- 
ing hints  for  his  intended  Rcvicu'  or  Literary  Journal : 

'  The  Annals  of  Literature,  foreign  as  well  as  domestick.  Imitate 
Le  Clerk — Bayle — IJarbeyrae.  Infelicity  of  Journals  in  England. 
Works  of  the  learned.  We  cannot  take  in  all.  vSometimes  copy 
from  foreign  Journalists.     Always  tell.' 

'To  Dr.  Birch.  ■  March  29.  i755- 

'  Sir, 

'  I  have  sent  some  parts  of  vcyy  Dictionary,  such  as  were  at  hand, 
for  your  inspection.  The  favour  which  I  beg  is,  that  if  you  do  not 
like  them,  you  will  say  nothing.     I  am,  Sir, 

'  Your  most  affectionate  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

'To  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson. 
<q  'Norfolk-street,  April  23.  1755. 

'The  part  of  your  Dictionary  which  you  have  favoured  me  with 
the  sight  of  has  given  me  such  an  idea  of  the  whole,  that  I  most 
sincerely  congratulate  the  publick  upon  the  acquisition  of  a  work 
long  wanted,  and  now  executed  with  an  industry,  accuracy,  and 
judgement,  equal  to  the  importance  of  the  subject.  \'ou  might, 
perhaps,  have  chosen  one  in  which  your  genius  would  have  ap- 
peared to  more  advantage ;  but  you  could  not  have  fixed  upon  any 
other  in  which  your  labours  would  have  done  such  substantial  ser- 
vice to  the  present  age  and  to  posterity.  I  am  glad  that  your 
health  has  supported  the  application  necessary  to  the  performance 
of  so  vast  a  task  ;  and  can  undertake  to  promise  you  as  one 
(though  perhaps  the  only)  reward  of  it,  the  approbation  and  thanks 
of  every  well-wisher  to  the  honour  of  the  English  language.  I  am, 
with  the  greatest  regard, 

'  Sir, 
'Your  most  faithful  and 

'Most  aflfectionate  humble  servant, 

'Tho.  Birch.' 

the  absence  from  the  Dictionary  of  the  Plan.  '  Elle  eut  epargne  a 
I'auteur  la  composition  d'une  nouvelle  preface,  qui  ne  contient  qu'en 
partie  les  memes  choses,  et  qu'on  est  tente  de  regarder  comme  desti- 
nee  a  faire  perdre  de  vue  quelques-unes  des  obligations  que  M.John- 
son avait  contractees,  et  le  Mcccne  qu"il  avait  choisi."  .Votes  and 
Queries,  2nd  S.  iv.  341. 

Mr. 


Aetat.46.]      yohnsojis  letter  to  Mr.  Burney.  331 

Mr.  Charles  Burney,  who  has  since  distinguished  himself 
so  much  in  the  science  of  Musick,  and  obtained  a  Doctor's 
degree  from  the  University  of  Oxford,  had  been  driven  from 
the  capital  by  bad  health,  and  was  now  residing  at  Lynne 
Regis,  in  Norfolk'.  He  had  been  so  much  delighted  with 
Johnson's  RambUr  and  the  Plan  of  his  Dictionary,  that  when 
the  great  work  was  announced  in  the  news-papers  as  nearly 
finished,  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Johnson,  begging  to  be  informed 
when  and  in  what  manner  h\s  Dictionary  would  be  published  ; 
intreating,  if  it  should  be  by  subscription,  or  he  should  have 
any  books  at  his  own  disposal,  to  be  favoured  with  six  copies 
for  himself  and  friends. 

In  answer  to  this  application.  Dr.  Johnson  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing letter,  of  which  (to  use  Dr.  Burney's  own  words)  '  if  it 
be  remembered  that  it  was  written  to  an  obscure  young  man, 
who  at  this  time  had  not  much  distinguished  himself  even 
in  his  own  profession,  but  whose  name  could  never  have 
reached  the  authour  of  The  Rambler,  the  politeness  and  ur- 
banity may  be  opposed  to  some  of  the  stories  which  have 
been  lately  circulated  of  Dr.  Johnson's  natural  rudeness  and 
ferocity.' 

'To  Mr.  Burney,  in  Lynne  Regis,  Norfolk. 

'Sir, 

'If  you  imagine  that  by  delaying  my  answer  I  intended  to 
shew  any  neglect  of  the  notice  with  which  you  have  favoured  me. 
you  will  neither  think  justly  of  yourself  nor  of  me.  Your  civilities 
were  offered  with  too  much  elegance  not  to  engage  attention ;  and 
I  have  too  much  pleasure  in  pleasing  men  like  you,  not  to  feel  very 
sensibly  the  distinction  which  you  have  bestowed  upon  me. 

'  Few  consequences  of  my  endeavours  to  please  or  to  benefit 
mankind  have  delighted  me  more  than  your  friendship  thus  vol- 
untarily offered,  which  now  I  have  it  I  hope  to  keep,  because  I 
hope  to  continue  to  deserve  it. 

'  I  have  no  Dictionaries  to  dispose  of  for  myself,  but  shall  be  glad 
to  have  you  direct  your  friends  to  Mr.  Dodsley,  because  it  was  by 
his  recommendation  that  I  was  employed  in  the  work. 

'  He  left  London  in  1751  and  returned  to  it  in  1760.  Memoirs  of 
Dr.  Burney,  i.  85,  133. 

'  When 


332  Afidrew  Millar.  [a. d.  1755, 

'When  you  have  leisure  to  think  again  upon  me,  let  me  be  fa- 
voured with  another  letter  ;  and  another  yet,  when  you  have  looked 
into  my  Dictionary.  If  you  find  faults,  I  shall  endeavour  to  mend 
them  ;  if  you  find  none,  I  shall  think  you  blinded  by  kind  partiality ; 
but  to  have  made  you  partial  in  his  favour,  will  very  much  gratify 
the  ambition  of,  Sir, 

'  Your  most  obliged 

'And  most  humble  servant, 

'Sam.  Johnson.' 
'Gough-square.  Fleet-street, 
'April  8.  1755.' 

Mr.  Andrew  Millar,  bookseller  in  the  Strand,  took  the  prin- 
cipal charge  of  conducting  the  publication  of  Johnson's  Dic- 
tionary ;  and  as  the  patience  of  the  proprietors  was  repeat- 
edly tried  and  almost  exhausted,  b}'  their  expecting  that  the 
work  would  be  completed  within  the  time  which  Johnson  had 
sanguinely  supposed,  the  learned  authour  was  often  goaded 
to  dispatch,  more  especially  as  he  had  received  all  the  copy- 
money,  by  different  drafts,  a  considerable  time  before  he  had 
finished  his  task'.  When  the  messenger  Avho  carried  the  last 
sheet  to  Millar  returned,  Johnson  asked  him,  '  Well,  what  did 
he  say  ?' — '  Sir,  (answered  the  messenger)  he  said,  thank  GoD 
I  have  done  with  him.'  '  I  am  glad  (replied  Johnson,  with  a 
smile)  that  he  thanks  GOD  for  any  thing\'  It  is  remarkable 
that  those  with  whom  Johnson  chiefly  contracted  for  his  lit- 
erary labours  were  Scotchmen,  Mr.  Millar  and  Mr.  Strahan. 
Millar,  though  himself  no  great  judge  of  literature,  had  good 
sense  enough  to  have  for  his  friends  very  able  men  to  give 
him  their  opinion  and  advice  in  the  purchase  of  copj'right ; 
the  consequence  of  which  was  his  acquiring  a  very  large  fort- 
une, with  great  liberality".     Johnson  said  of  him,  '  I  respect 


'  See  ante,  p.  21 1,  note  4. 

*  Sir  John  Hawkins,  p.  341,  inserts  two  notes  as  having  passed  for- 
mally between  Andrew  Millar  and  Johnson,  to  the  above  effect.  I 
am  assured  this  was  not  the  case.  In  the  way  of  incidental  remark  it 
was  a  pleasant  play  of  raillery.  To  have  deliberately  written  notes  in 
such  terms  would  have  been  morose.     Boswell. 

*  '  Talking  one  day  of  the  patronage  the  great  sometimes  affect  to 

Millar, 


Aetat.  46.]  Liberality  of  publishers.  333 

Millar,  Sir;  he  has  raised  the  price  of  literature.'  The  same 
praise  may  be  justly  given  to  Panckoucke,  the  eminent  book- 
seller of  Paris.  Mr.  Strahan's  liberality,  judgement,  and  suc- 
cess, are  well  known. 

'To  Bennet  Langton,  Esq.,  at  Langton  near  Spilsby, 

Lincolnshire. 
'Sir, 

'  It  has  been  long  observed,  that  men  do  not  suspect  faults 
which  they  do  not  commit;  your  own  elegance  of  manners,  and 
punctuality  of  complaisance,  did  not  suffer  you  to  impute  to  me 
that  negligence  of  which  I  was  guilty,  and  which  I  have  not  since 
atoned.  I  received  both  your  letters,  and  received  them  with 
pleasure  proportionate  to  the  esteem  which  so  short  an  acquaint- 
ance strongly  impressed,  and  which  I  hope  to  confirm  by  nearer 
knowledge,  though  1  am  afraid  that  gratification  will  be  for  a  time 
withheld. 

'I  have,  indeed,  published  my  Book',  of  which  I  beg  to  know 
your  father's  judgement,  and  yours  ;  and  I  have  now  staid  long 

give  to  literature  and  literary  men,  "  Andrew  Millar,"  says  Johnson, 
"is  the  Maecenas  of  the  age."'  Johnson's  Works  ( 1787),  xi.  200. 
Horace  Walpole,  writing  on  May  18,  1749  {Letters,  ii.  163),  says: — 
'  Millar  the  bookseller  has  done  very  generously  by  Fielding;  finding 
Tom  Jones,  for  which  he  had  given  him  six  hundred  pounds,  sell  so 
greatly,  he  has  since  given  him  another  hundred.'  Hume  writing  on 
July  6,  1759.  says: — 'Poor  Andrew  Millar  is  declared  bankrupt;  his 
debts  amount  to  above  ^40.000,  and  it  is  said  his  creditors  will  not 
get  above  three  shillings  in  the  pound.  All  the  world  allows  him  to 
have  been  diligent  and  industrious  ,  but  his  misfortunes  are  ascribed 
to  the  extravagance  of  his  wife,  a  very  ordinary  case  in  this  cit}'.'  J. 
H.  Burton's  Htnne,  ii.  64.  He  must  soon  have  recovered  his  position, 
for  Dr.  A.  Carlyle  {Atito.  p.  434)  met  Millar  at  Harrogate  in  1763.  In 
the  inn  were  several  baronets,  and  great  squires,  members  of  parlia- 
ment, who  paid  Millar  civility  for  the  use  of  his  two  newspapers  which 
came  to  him  by  every  post.  '  Yet  when  he  appeared  in  the  morning, 
in  his  well-worn  suit  of  clothes,  they  could  not  help  calling  him  Peter 
Pamphlet ;  for  the  generous  patron  of  Scotch  authors,  with  his  city 
wife  and  her  niece,  were  sufficiently  ridiculous  when  they  came  into 
good  company.'  Mr.  Croker  {Boswell,  p.  630)  says  that  Millar  was  the 
bookseller  described  by  Johnson, ^f^^A  April  24,  1779,  as  'habitually 
and  equably  drunk.'  He  is,  I  think,  mistaken. 
'  His  Dictionary.     BoswELL. 

cnoucrh 


334  -^^  excursion  to  Langton  deferred.  [  a. d.  17/55. 

enough  to  watch  its  progress  into  the  world.  It  has,  you  see,  no 
patrons,  and,  I  think,  has  yet  had  no  opponents,  except  the  criticks 
of  the  coffee-house,  whose  outcries  are  soon  dispersed  into  the  air, 
and  are  thought  on  no  more  :  from  this,  therefore,  I  am  at  Uberty, 
and  think  of  taking  the  opportunity  of  this  interval  to  make  an  ex- 
cursion ;  and  why  not  then  into  Lincolnshire  ?  or,  to  mention  a 
stronger  attraction,  why  not  to  dear  Mr.  Langton  ?  I  will  give  the 
true  reason,  which  I  know  you  will  approve  : — I  have  a  mother 
more  than  eighty  years  old,  who  has  counted  the  days  to  the  pub- 
lication of  my  book,  in  hopes  of  seeing  me ;  and  to  her,  if  I  can 
disengage  myself  here,  I  resolve  to  go. 

'As  I  know,  dear  Sir,  that  to  delay  my  visit  for  a  reason  like  this, 
will  not  deprive  me  of  your  esteem,  I  beg  it  may  not  lessen  your 
kindness.  I  have  very  seldom  received  an  offer  of  friendship  which 
I  so  earnestly  desire  to  cultivate  and  mature.  I  shall  rejoice  to 
hear  from  you,  till  I  can  see  you,  and  will  see  you  as  soon  as  I  can  ; 
for  when  the  duty  that  calls  me  to  Lichfield  is  discharged,  my  incli- 
nation will  carry  me  to  Langton.  I  shall  delight  to  hear  the  ocean 
roar,  or  see  the  stars  twinkle,  in  the  company  of  men  to  whom  Nat- 
ure does  not  spread  her  volumes  or  utter  her  voice  in  vain. 

'  Do  not,  dear  Sir,  make  the  slowness  of  this  letter  a  precedent 
for  delay,  or  imagine  that  I  approved  the  incivility  that  I  have  com- 
mitted; for  I  have  known  you  enough  to  love  you,  and  sincerely 
to  wish  a  further  knowledge  ;  and  I  assure  you,  once  more,  that  to 
live  in  a  house  that  contains  such  a  father  and  such  a  son,  will  be 
accounted  a  very  uncommon  degree  of  pleasure,  by,  dear  Sir,  your 
most  obliged  and 

'Most  humble  servant, 

,,     ^  ,  'Sam.  Johnson.' 

'May  6.  1755. 

'To  THE  Reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Warton. 
'Dear  Sir, 

'  I  am  grieved  that  you  should  think  me  capable  of  neglect- 
ing your  letters  ;  and  beg  you  will  never  admit  any  such  suspicion 
again.  I  purpose  to  come  down  next  week,  if  you  shall  be  there  ; 
or  any  other  week,  that  shall  be  more  agreeable  to  you.  Therefore 
let  me  know.  1  can  stay  this  visit  but  a  week,  but  intend  to  make 
preparations  for  a  longer  stay  next  time  ;  being  resolved  not  to  lose 
sight  of  the  University.      How  goes  Apollonius'?     Don't  let  him 

'  'A  translation  of  Apollonius  Rhodius  was  now  intended  by  Mr. 
Warton.'    Warton. — Boswell. 

be 


Aetat.  46.]  Letters  to  Mr.  War  ton.  335 

be  forgotten.  Some  things  of  this  kind  must  be  done,  to  keep  us 
up.  Pay  my  compliments  to  Mr.  Wise,  and  all  my  other  friends- 
I  think  to  come  to  Kettel-Hall'. 

'  I  am,  Sir, 

'  Your  most  affectionate,  &c. 
'[London,!  May  13.  I755-'  '  ^^''-  Johnson.' 

To  THE  Same. 
'Dear  Sir, 

'It  is  strange  how  many  things  will  happen  to  intercept  every 
pleasure,  though  it  [be]  only  that  of  two  friends  meeting  together. 
I  have  promised  myself  every  day  to  inform  you  when  you  might 
expect  me  at  Oxford,  and  have  not  been  able  to  fix  a  time.  The 
time,  however,  is,  I  think,  at  last  come ;  and  I  promise  myself  to 
repose  in  Kettel-Hall,  one  of  the  first  nights  of  the  next  week.  1 
am  afraid  my  stay  with  you  cannot  be  long ;  but  what  is  the  infer- 
ence ?  We  must  endeavour  to  make  it  chearful.  I  wish  your 
brother  could  meet  us,  that  we  might  go  and  drink  tea  with  Mr. 
Wise  in  a  body.  I  hope  he  will  be  at  Oxford,  or  at  his  nest  of  Brit- 
ish and  Saxon  antiquities^  I  shall  expect  to  see  Spenser  finished, 
and  many  other  things  begun.  Dodsley  is  gone  to  visit  the 
Dutch.  The  Dictionary  sells  well'.  The  rest  of  the  world  goes 
on  as  it  did.     Dear  Sir, 

'  Your  most  affectionate,  &c. 

'[London.]  June  10,  1755.'  '^^^-  Johnson.' 

To  THE  Same. 
'  Dear  Sir, 

'  To  talk  of  coming  to  you,  and  not  yet  to  come,  has  an  air  of 
trifling  which  I  would  not  willingly  have  among  you  ;  and  which,  I 
believe,  you  will  not  willingly  impute  to  me,  when  I  have  told  you, 
that  since  my  promise,  two  of  our  partners'  are  dead,  and  that  I 

'  Kettel  Hall  is  an  ancient  tenement  built  about  the  year  161 5  by 
Dr.  Ralph  Kettel,  President  of  Trinity  College,  for  the  accommodation 
of  commoners  of  that  Society.  It  adjoins  the  College ;  and  was  a  few 
years  ago  converted  into  a  private  house.     Ma  lone. 

*  'At  Ellsfield,  a  village  three  miles  from  Oxford.'  Warton. — 
Boswell. 

*  It  was  published  on  April  15,  1755,  in  two  vols,  folio,  price  £\  \os. 
bound.     Johnson's  ^f^(3r^.y,  V.  51. 

*  '  Booksellers  concerned  in  his  Dictionary.'    Warton. — Boswell. 

was 


336  Letters  to  Mr.  Wartou.  [a.d.  1755. 

was  solicited  to  suspend  my  excursion  till  we  could  recover  from 
our  confusion. 

'  I  have  not  laid  aside  my  purpose ;  for  every  day  makes  me 
more  impatient  of  staying  from  you.  But  death,  you  know,  hears 
not  supplications,  nor  pays  any  regard  to  the  convenience  of  mor- 
tals. 1  hope  now  lo  see  you  next  week  ;  but  next  week  is  but 
another  name  fur  to-morrow,  which  has  been  noted  for  promising 
and  deceiving. 

'1  am,  &c. 

'[London.]  June  24.  1755.'  '^^"-  J«"^SON.' 

To  THE  Same. 

'Dkar  Sir, 

'  I  told  you.  that  among  the  manuscripts  are  some  things  of 
Sir  Thomas  More.  1  beg  you  to  pass  an  hour  in  looking  on  them, 
and  procure  a  transcript  of  the  ten  or  twenty  first  lines  of  each,  to 
be  compared  with  what  I  have  ;  that  I  may  know  whether  they  are 
yet  published.     The  manuscripts  are  these : 

'Catalogue  of  Bodl.  MS.  pag.  122.  F.  3.  Sir  Thomas  More. 

'1.  Fall  of  angels.  2.  Creation  and  fall  of  mankind.  3.  Deter- 
mination of  the  Trinity  for  the  rescue  of  mankind.  4.  Five  lect- 
ures of  our  Saviour's  passion.  5.  Of  the  institution  of  the  sacra- 
ment, three  lectures.  6.  How  to  receive  the  blessed  body  of  our 
Lord  sacramentally.  7.  Neomenia,  the  new  moon.  8.  Dc  tristitia, 
tosdio,  pavore,  et  oratione  Christi,  ante  captionem  ejus. 

'Catalogue,  pag.  154.  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  More.  ^//.Whether 
Roper's  ?  Pag.  363.  De  resignatione  Afagni  Sigilli  in  tnanus  Regis 
per  D.  Thomam  Monnn.     Pag.  364.     Mori  Defensio  Moriie. 

'If  you  procure  the  young  gentleman  in  the  library  to  write  out 
what  you  think  fit  to  be  written,  I  will  send  to  Mr.  Prince  the  book- 
seller to  pay  him  what  you  shall  think  proper. 

'  Be  pleased  to  make  my  compliments  to  Mr.  Wise,  and  all  my 

friends. 

'I  am,  Sir, 

'  Your  affectionate,  &:c. 

'Sam.  Johnson.' 
'  [London!  Aug.  7,  1755." 

•June  12,  Mr.  Paul  Knapton,  bookseller.  June  i8,  Thos.  Longman, 
Esq.,  bookseller.'  Geni.  Mag.  xxv.  2S4.  The  '  Esq.'  perhaps  is  a  sign 
that  even  so  early  as  1755  the  Longmans  ranked  higher  than  most  of 
their  brethren. 

The 


Aetat.4G.]      Pubiication  of  the  Dictionary.  337 

The  Dictionary,  with  a  Grammar  and  History  of  the 
English  Language,  being  now  at  length  published,  in  two 
volumes  folio,  the  world  contemplated  with  wonder  so 
stupendous  a  work  atchieved  by  one  man,  while  other  coun- 
tries had  thought  such  undertakings  fit  only  for  whole 
academies.  Vast  as  his  powers  were,  I  cannot  but  think 
that  his  imagination  deceived  him,  when  he  supposed  that 
by  constant  application  he  might  have  performed  the  task 
in  three  years.  Let  the  Preface  be  attentively  perused, 
in  which  is  given,  in  a  clear,  strong,  and  glowing  style,  a 
comprehensive,  yet  particular  view  of  what  he  had  done ; 
and  it  wall  be  evident,  that  the  time  he  employed  upon  it 
was  comparatively  short.  I  am  unwilling  to  swell  my  book 
with  long  quotations  from  what  is  in  every  body's  hands, 
and  I  believe  there  are  few  prose  compositions  in  the  English 
language  that  are  read  with  more  delight,  or  are  more  im- 
pressed upon  the  memory,  than  that  preliminary  discourse. 
One  of  its  excellencies  has  always  struck  me  with  peculiar 
admiration  :  I  mean  the  perspicuity  with  which  he  has  ex- 
pressed abstract  scientifick  notions.  As  an  instance  of  this, 
I  shall  quote  the  following  sentence :  '  When  the  radical 
idea  branches  out  into  parallel  ramifications,  how  can  a  con- 
secutive series  be  formed  of  senses  in  their  own'  nature 
collateral  ?'  We  have  here  an  example  of  what  has  been 
often  said,  and  I  believe  with  justice,  that  there  is  for  every 
thought  a  certain  nice  adaptation  of  words  which  none  other 
could  equal,  and  which,  when  a  man  has  been  so  fortunate 
as  to  hit,  he  has  attained,  in  that  particular  case,  the  perfec- 
tion of  language. 

The  extensive  reading  which  was  absolutely  necessary  for 
the  accumulation  of  authorities,  and  which  alone  may  ac- 
count for  Johnson's  retentive  mind  being  enriched  with  a 
very  large  and  various  store  of  knowledge  and  imagery, 
must  have  occupied  several  years.  The  Preface  furnishes 
an  eminent  instance  of  a  double  talent,  of  which  Johnson 
was  fully  conscious.     Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  heard  him  say, 

'  Own  not  in  the  original.     Johnson's  Works,  v.  36. 
I.— 22  '  There 


2,;^8  The  Preface  to  the  Dictionary,     [a.d.  1755. 

'  There  are  two  things  which  I  am  confident  I  can  do  very 
well :  one  is  an  introduction  to  any  literary  work,  stating 
what  it  is  to  contain,  and  how  it  should  be  executed  in 
the  most  perfect  manner ;  the  other  is  a  conclusion,  shew- 
ing from  various  causes  why  the  execution  has  not  been 
equal  to  what  the  authour  promised  to  himself  and  to  the 
publick.' 

How  should  puny  scribblers  be  abashed  and  disappointed, 
when  they  find  him  displaying  a  perfect  theory  of  lexico- 
graphical excellence,  yet  at  the  same  time  candidly  and 
modestly  allowing  that  he  *  had  not  satisfied  his  own  ex- 
pectations'.' Here  was  a  fair  occasion  for  the  exercise  of 
Johnson's  modesty,  when  he  was  called  upon  to  compare 
his  own  arduous  performance,  not  with  those  of  other  indi- 
viduals, (in  which  case  his  inflexible  regard  to  truth  would 
have  been  violated,  had  he  affected  dififidencc,)  but  with 
speculative  perfection" ;  as  he,  who  can  outstrip  all  his  com- 
petitors in  the  race,  may  yet  be  .sensible  of  his  deficiency 
w^hen  he  runs  against  time.  Well  might  he  say,  that  '  the 
English  Dictionary  was  written  with  little  assistance  of  the 
learned','  for  he  told  me,  that  the  only  aid  which  he  received 
was  a  paper  containing  twenty  etymologies,  sent  to  him  by 
a  person  then  unknown,  who  he  was  afterwards  informed 
was    Dr.  Pearce,  Bishop    of   Rochester*.     The  etymologies, 


*  '  I  have  not  always  executed  my  own  scheme,  or  satisfied  my  own 
expectations.'     Johnson's  Works,  p.  ^\. 

•  In  the  Plati  of  an  English  Dictionary  {ib.  p.  i6)  Johnson,  writing 
of  'the  word  perfection,'  says: — 'Though  in  its  philosophical  and  ex- 
act sense  it  can  be  of  little  use  among  human  beings,  it  is  often  so 
much  degraded  from  its  original  signification,  that  the  academicians 
have  inserted  in  their  work,  the  perfectioii  of  a  language,  and,  with  a 
little  more  licentiousness,  might  have  prevailed  on  themselves  to  have 
added  the  perfection  of  a  Dictionary.'  In  the  Preface  to  the  fourth 
edition  he  writes : — '  He  that  undertakes  to  compile  a  Dictionary  un- 
dertakes that,  which  if  it  comprehends  the  full  extent  of  his  design, 
he  knows  himself  unable  to  perform.'     lb.  p.  52. 

^  /^.  p.  51. 

♦  Se^G  post,  under  May  ly,  1777. 

though 


Aetat.  46.]  Erroneous  definitions.  339 

though  they  exhibit  learning  and  judgement,  are  not,  I 
think,  entitled  to  the  first  praise  amongst  the  various  parts 
of  this  immense  work.  The  definitions  have  always  ap- 
peared to  me  such  astonishing  proofs  of  acuteness  of  intel- 
lect and  precision  of  language,  as  indicate  a  genius  of  the 
highest  rank'.  This  it  is  which  marks  the  superiour  excel- 
lence of  Johnson's  Dictionary  over  others  equally  or  even 
more  voluminous,  and  must  have  made  it  a  work  of  much 
greater  mental  labour  than  mere  Lexicons,  or  Word-books,  as 
the  Dutch  call  them.  They,  who  will  make  the  experiment 
of  trying  how  they  can  define  a  few  words  of  whatever 
nature,  will  soon  be  satisfied  of  the  unquestionable  justice  of 
this  observation,  which  I  can  assure  my  readers  is  founded 
upon  much  study,  and  upon  communication  with  more  minds 
than  my  own. 

A  few  of  his  definitions  must  be  admitted  to  be  erroneous. 
Thus,  Windward  and  Leeward"^,  though  directly  of  opposite 
meaning,  are  defined  identically  the  same  way ;  as  to  which 
inconsiderable  specks  it  is  enough  to  observe,  that  his  Pref- 
ace announces  that  he  was  aware  there  might  be  many 
such  in  so  immense  a  work^ ;  nor  was  he  at  all  disconcerted 

'  See  aiite,  p.  216,  note  i. 

'  He  defines  both  towards  the  ivind.  The  definitions  remain  un- 
changed in  the  fourth  edition,  the  last  corrected  by  Johnson,  and  also 
in  the  third  edition  of  the  abridgment,  though  this  abridgment  was 
made  by  him.  Pastern  also  remains  unaltered  in  this  latter  edition. 
In  the  fourth  edition  he  corrected  it.  '  The  drawback  of  his  charac- 
ter,' wrote  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, '  is  entertaining  prejudices  on  verj^ 
slight  foundations;  giving  an  opinion,  perhaps,  first  at  random,  but 
from  its  being  contradicted  he  thinks  himself  obliged  always  to  sup- 
port it,  or,  if  he  cannot  support,  still  not  to  acquiesce.  Of  this  I  re- 
member an  instance  of  a  defect  or  forgetfulness  in  his  Dictionary.  I 
asked  him  how  he  came  not  to  correct  it  in  the  second  edition.  "  No," 
says  he,  "  they  made  so  much  of  it  that  I  would  not  flatter  them  by 
altering  it."  '     Taylor's  Reynolds,  ii.  461. 

'  In  his  Preface  {Works,  v.  50)  he  anticipated  errors  and  laughter. 
'  A  few  wild  blunders  and  risible  absurdities,  from  which  no  work  of 
such  multiplicity  was  ever  free,  may  for  a  time  furnish  folly  with 
laughter,  and  harden  ignorance  into  contempt.'     In  a  letter  written 

when 


340  Humorous  dejuiiiions.  [a.d.  1755. 

when  an  instance  was  pointed  out  to  him.  A  lady  once 
asked  him  how  he  came  to  define  Pastern  the  knee  of  a 
horse .  instead  of  making  an  elaborate  defence,  as  she  ex- 
pected, he  at  once  answered,  '  Ignorance,  Madam,  pure  igno- 
rance'.' His  definition  of  Network'  has  been  often  quoted 
with  sportive  maHgnity",  as  obscuring  a  thing  in  itself  very 
plain.  But  to  these  frivolous  censures  no  other  answer  is 
necessary  than  that  with  which  we  arc  furnished  by  his  own 
Preface. 

'To  explain,  requires  the  use  of  terms  less  abstruse  than  that 
which  is  to  be  explained,  and  such  terms  cannot  always  be  found. 
For  as  nothing  can  be  proved  but  by  supposing  something  intui- 
tively known,  and  evident  without  proof,  so  nothing  can  be  defined 
but  by  the  use  of  words  too  plain  to  admit  of  definition\  Some- 
times easier  words  are  changed  into  harder ;  as,  burial,  into  sepnt- 
tiire  or  mtervient ;  dry\  into  desiccative  \  dryness,  into  siccity  or  aridity ; 
Jit,  into  paroxism ;  for  the  easiest  word,  whatever  it  be,  can  never 
be  translated  into  one  more  easy.' 

His  introducing  his  own  opinions,  and  even  prejudices,  un- 
der general  definitions  of  words,  while  at  the  same  time  the 
original  meaning  of  the  words  is  not  explained,  as  his  Tory", 

nearly  thirty  years  later  he  said  : — '  Dictionaries  are  like  watches,  the 
worst  is  better  than  none,  and  the  best  cannot  be  expected  to  go  quite 
true.'     Pioz2i  Letters,  ii.  406. 
'  See  post,  under  July  20.  1762. 

*  '  Network.  Anything  reticulated  or  decussated,  at  equal  distances, 
with  interstices  between  the  intersections.'  Reticulated  is  defined 
'  Made  of  network;  formed  with  interstitial  vacuities.' 

^  '  That  part  of  my  work  on  which  I  expect  malignity  most  frequent- 
ly to  fasten  is  the  Explanation.  .  .  .  Such  is  the  fate  of  hapless  lexicog- 
raphy, that  not  only  darkness,  but  light,  impedes  and  distresses  it ; 
things  may  be  not  only  too  little,  but  too  much  known,  to  be  happily 
illustrated.'     Johnson's  Works,  v.  34. 

*  In  the  original  'to  admit  a  definition."     lb. 

*  In  the  original,  "drier.'     lb.  38. 

*  'Tory.  (A  cant  term  derived,  I  suppose,  from  an  Irish  word  sig- 
nifying a  savage.)  One  who  adheres  to  the  ancient  constitution  of 
the  state,  and  the  apostolical  hierarchy  of  the  Church  of  England  : 
opposed  to  a  whig.' 

Whi^, 


Aetat.46.]  HumoroMs  definitions.  341 

lV/ng\  Pension',  Oats^,  Excise*,  and  a  few   more,  cannot  be 
fully   defended,   and    must    be    placed    to    the    account    of 


'  'Whig.  The  name  of  a  faction."  Lord  Marchmont  {fiost.  May  12, 
1778)  said  that  'Johnson  was  the  first  that  brought  Whig  and  Tory 
into  a  dictionary.'  In  this  he  was  mistaken.  In  the  fourth  edition 
of  Dr.  Adam  Littleton's  Linguae  Latinae  Liber  Dietiona^-iits,  published 
in  1703,  Whig  is  translated  Hojno  fatiatictts.  faetiosus ;  W/iiggism, 
Enthusiasmus,  Perdteel/io ;  Tory,  bog-trotter  or  Irish  robber,  Praedo 
HiberJiicus ;  Tory  opposed  to  whig,  Regiarmn  partiion  assertor. 
These  definitions  are  not  in  the  first  edition,  published  in  1678.  A 
pensioner  or  bride  [bribed}  person  is  rendered  Mereenariiis. 

"  '  Pension.  An  allowance  made  to  any  one  without  an  equivalent. 
In  England  it  is  generally  understood  to  mean  pay  given  to  a  state 
hireling  for  treason  to  his  countr}.'  Pensioner  is  defined  as  'One 
who  is  supported  by  an  allowance  paid  at  the  will  of  another ;  a  de- 
pendant.' These  definitions  remain  in  the  fourth  edition,  corrected 
by  Johnson  in  1773. 

'  '  Oats.  A  grain  which  in  England  is  generally  given  to  horses, 
but  in  Scotland  supports  the  people."  See  post,  March  23,  1776,  and 
March  21,  1783.  'Did  you  ever  hear,'  wrote  Sir  Walter  Scott,  'of 
Lord  Elibank's  reply  when  Johnson "s  famous  definition  of  oats  was 
pointed  out  first  to  him.  "Verx-  true,  and  where  will  you  find  such 
men  and  such  horses?"  '     Croker's  Corres.  ii.  35. 

*  He  thus  defines  Excise:  "A  hateful  tax  levied  upon  commodities, 
and  adjudged  not  by  the  common  judges  of  property,  but  wretches 
hired  by  those  to  whom  Excise  is  paid."  The  Commissioners  of  Ex- 
cise being  oftended  by  this  severe  reflection,  consulted  Mr.  Murray, 
then  Attorney  General,  to  know  whether  redress  could  be  legally  ob- 
tained. I  wished  to  have  procured  for  my  readers  a  copy  of  the 
opinion  which  he  gave,  and  which  may  now  be  justly  considered  as 
histor}' :  but  the  mysterious  secrecy  of  oflice.  it  seems,  would  not 
permit  it.  I  am,  however,  informed,  by  very  good  authority,  that  its 
import  was.  that  the  passage  might  be  considered  as  actionable ;  but 
that  it  would  be  more  prudent  in  the  board  not  to  prosecute.  John- 
son never  made  the  smallest  alteration  in  this  passage.  We  find  he 
still  retained  his  early  prejudice  against  Excise  ;  for  in  The  Idler,  No. 
65,  there  is  the  following  very  extraordinary  paragraph  :  "  The  authen- 
ticity of  Clarendon' s  historj.^  though  printed  with  the  sanction  of  one 
of  the  first  Universities  of  the  world,  had  not  an  unexpected  manu- 
script been  happily  discovered,  would,  with  the  help  of  factious  credu- 
lity, have  been  brought  into  question  by  the  two  lowest  of  all  human 
beings,  a  Scribbler  for  a  party,  and  a  Commissioner  of  Excise." — The 

capricious 


342  Humorous  definitions.  [a.d.  1755. 


capricious  and  humorous  indulgence'.  Talking  to  me  upon 
this  subject  when  we  were  at  Ashbourne  in  1777,  he  men- 
tioned a  still  stronger  instance  of  the  predominance  of  his 
private  feelings  in  the  composition  of  this  work,  than  any- 
new  to  be  found  in  it.  '  You  know,  Sir,  Lord  Gower  for- 
sook the  old  Jacobite  interest.     When  I  came  to  the  word 

persons  to  whom  he  alludes  were  Mr.  John  Oldmixon  and  George 
Ducket.  Esq.     BoswKi.i,.     Mr.  Croker  obtained  a  copy  of  the  case. 
'  Case  for  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Aftorney-Grfiera/. 

'  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson  has  lately  published  "A  Dictionary  of  the  Eng- 
lish Language,"  in  which  are  the  follcnving  words : — 

' "  ExciSK,  71.  s.  A  hateful  ta.x  levied  upon  commodities  and  ad- 
judged not  by  the  common  judges  of  property,  but  by  wretches  hired 
by  those  to  whom  excise  is  paid." 

'  The  author's  de/initio?i  being  observed  by  the  Commissioners  of  Excise, 
they  desire  the  favour  of  yoitr  opinion.  "Ou.  Whether  it  will  not  be 
considered  as  a  libel,  and  if  so,  ^vhether  it  is  not  proper  to  proceed  against 
the  author,  printers,  and  publishers  thereof,  or  any  and  ivJiicJt  of  them, 
by  informatio/i,  or  hinv  otherwise?  " 

'  I  am  of  opinion  that  it  is  a  libel.  Ih<t  under  all  the  circumstances, 
I  should  think  it  better  to  give  him  an  opportunity  of  altering  his  defi- 
nition ;  and,  in  case  he  do  not,  to  threaten  him  7vith  an  information. 

'  zgth  Noil.  1755.  W.  Murray.' 

In  one  of  the  Pari.  Debates  of  1742  Johnson  makes  Pitt  say  that  '  it  is 
probable  that  we  shall  detect  bribery  descending  through  a  long  sub- 
ordination of  wretches  combined  against  the  public  happiness,  from 
the  prime  minister  surrounded  by  peers  and  officers  of  state  to  the 
exciseman  dictating  politics  amidst  a  company  of  mechanics  whom 
he  debauches  at  the  public  expense,  and  lists  in  the  service  of  his 
master  with  the  taxes  which  he  gathers.'  Pari.  Hist.  xii.  570.  See 
ante,  p.  43,  note  i . 

'  He  defined  Favourite  as  '  One  chosen  as  a  companion  by  a  supe- 
riour ;  a  mean  wretch,  whose  whole  business  is  by  any  means  to 
please :'  and  Revobition  as  '  change  in  the  state  of  a  government  or 
country.  It  is  used  among  us  Kar  f'ioxr)v  for  the  change  produced  by 
the  admission  of  King  William  and  Queen  Mary.'  For  these  defini- 
tions Wilkes  attacked  him  in  The  Xorth  Briton,  No.  xii.  In  the  fourth 
edition  Johnson  gives  a  second  definition  of  patriot : — '  It  is  sometimes 
used  for  a  factious  disturber  of  the  government.'  Premier  and  prime 
minister  are  not  defined.  Post,  April  14,  1775.  See  also  ante,  p.  307. 
note  2,  for  the  definition  of  patron  ;  Tcndi  post,  April  28.  1783  for  that  of 
alias. 

Retiegado, 


Aetat.46.]  Humorous  definitions.  343 

Renegado,  after  telling  that  it  meant  "one  who  deserts  to 
the  enemy,  a  revolter,"  I  added,  Sometimes  xve  say  a  Gower'. 
Thus  it  went  to  the  press ;  but  the  printer  had  more  wit 
than  I,  and  struck  it  out.' 

Let  it,  however,  be  remembered,  that  this  indulgence  does 
not  display  itself  only  in  sarcasm  towards  others,  but  some- 
times in  playful  allusion  to  the  notions  commonly  enter- 
tained of  his  own  laborious  task.  Thus :  '  Grub-street,  the 
name  of  a  street  in  London,  much  inhabited  by  writers  of 
small  histories,  dictiojiaries,  and  temporary  poems ;  whence 
any  mean  production  is  called  Grnb-street'\' — Lexicographer, 
a  writer  of  dictionaries,  a  haruiless  drudge^.' 


'  '  There  have  been  great  contests  in  the  Privy  Council  about  the 
trial  of  the  Vice-Chancellor  of  Oxford  [on  a  charge  of  Jacobitism]  : 
Lord  Gower  pressed  it  extremely.  He  asked  the  Attorney-General 
his  opinion,  who  told  him  the  evidence  did  not  appear  strong  enough. 
Lord  Gower  said  : — "  Mr.  Attorney,  you  seem  to  be  very  lukewarm  for 
your  party."  He  replied  : — "  My  Lord,  I  never  was  lukewarm  for  my 
party,  nor  ener  was  but  of  one  party."  '  VValpole's  Letters,  ii.  140.  Mr. 
Croker  assumes  that  Johnson  here  'attempted  a  pun,  and  wrote  the 
name  (as  pronounced)  Go'er.'  Johnson  was  very  little  likely  to  pun, 
for  '  he  had  a  great  contempt  for  that  species  of  wit.'     Post,  April  30, 

1773- 
*  Boswell  omits  the  salutation  which  follows  this  definition  : 

\aip  iBaKT)  fitr  a(6\a,  fi(T  aXyea  niKpa 
Acnraalws  riov  ov8as  iKavofiai. 
'  Dr.  Johnson,'  says  Miss  Burney,  'inquired  if  I  had  ever  yet  visited 
Grub-street,  but  was  obliged  to  restrain  his  anger  when  I  answered 
"  No ;"  because  he  had  never  paid  his  respects  to  it  himself.  "  How- 
ever," says  he,  "you  and  I,  Burney,  will  go  together;  we  have  a  very 
good  right  to  go,  so  we'll  visit  the  mansions  of  our  progenitors,  and 
take  up  our  own  freedom  together."  '  A/nw.  D' Arblays  Diary,  i.  41 5. 
'  Lord  Bolingbroke  had  said  ( Works,  iii.  317) : — '  I  approve  the  de- 
votion of  a  studious  man  at  Christ  Church,  who  was  overheard  in  his 
oratory  entering  into  a  detail  with  God,  and  acknowledging  the  divine 
goodness  in  furnishing  the  world  with  makers  of  dictionaries.  These 
men  court  fame,  as  well  as  their  betters,  by  such  means  as  God  has 
given  them  to  acquire  it.  They  deserve  encouragement  while  they 
continue  to  compile,  and  neither  af?ect  wit.  nor  presume  to  reason." 
Johnson  himself  in  The  Adventurer,  No.  39,  had  in  1753  described  a 

At 


;44  The  gloom  of  solitude.  (a.d.  1755. 


At  the  time  when  he  was  concluding  his  very  eloquent 
Preface,  Johnson's  mind  appears  to  have  been  in  such  a 
state  of  depression',  that  we  cannot  contemplate  without 
wonder  the  vigorous  and  splendid  thoughts  which  so  highly 
distinguish  that  performance.  '  I  (says  he)  may  surely  be 
contented  without  the  praise  of  perfection,  which  if  I  could 
obtain  in  this  gloom  of  solitude,  what  would  it  avail  me  ?  I 
have  protracted  my  work  till  most  of  those  whom  I  wished 
to  please  have  sunk  into  the  grave ;  and  success  and  mis- 
carriage are  empty  sounds.  I  therefore  dismiss  it  with  frigid 
tranquillit}',  having  little  to  fear  or  hope  from  censure  or 
from  praise".'  That  this  indifference  was  rather  a  temporary 
than  an  habitual  feeling,  appears,  I  think,  from  his  letters  to 
Mr.  Warton^ ;   and  however  he  may  have  been  affected  for 


class  of  men  who  'employed  their  minds  in  such  operations  as  re- 
quired neither  celerity  nor  strength,  in  the  low  drudgery  of  collating 
copies,  comparing  authorities,  digesting  dictionaries,' &c.  Lord  Mon- 
boddo,  in  his  Origin  of  Language,  v.  273,  says  that '  J.C.  Scaliger  called 
the  makers  of  dictionaries  Ics  portcfaix  dc  la  republiquc  dcs  Icitrcs.' 

'  Great  though  his  depression  was,  yet  he  could  say  with  truth  in 
his  Preface : — '  Despondency  has  never  so  far  prevailed  as  to  depress 
me  to  negligence.'      Works,  v.  43. 

"  lb.  p.  51.  'In  the  preface  the  author  described  the  difFiculties 
with  which  he  had  been  left  to  struggle  so  forcibly  and  pathetically 
that  the  ablest  and  most  malevolent  of  all  the  enemies  of  his  fame. 
Home  Tooke,  never  could  read  that  passage  without  tears.'  Macau- 
lay's  Mtsc.  Writings,  p.  382.  It  is  in  A  Letter  to  John  Dimning,  Esq. 
(p.  56)  that  Home  Tooke,  or  rather  Home,  wrote  : — '  I  could  never 
read  his  preface  without  shedding  a  tear.'  See  post.  May  13,  1778. 
On  Oct.  10,  1779,  Boswell  told  Johnson,  that  he  had  been  'agreeably 
mistaken '  in  saying: — 'What  would  it  avail  me  in  this  gloom  of  soli- 
tude .'■ 

'  It  appears  even  by  many  a  passage  in  the  Preface — one  of  the 
proudest  pieces  of  writing  in  our  language.  'The  chief  glory,'  he 
writes,  '  of  every  people  arises  from  its  authors :  whether  I  shall  add 
anything  by  my  own  w^ritings  to  the  reputation  of  English  literature 
must  be  left  to  time.'  '  I  deliver,'  he  says, '  my  book  to  the  world  with 
the  spirit  of  a  man  that  has  endeavoured  well.  ...  In  this  work,  when 
it  shall  be  found  that  much  is  omitted,  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that 
much  likewise  is  performed ;  and  though  no  book  was  ever  spared 

the 


Aetat.  46.J  The  glootii  of  solitiide.  345 

the  moment,  certain  it  is  that  the  honours  which  his  great 
work  procured  him,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  were  very 
grateful  to  him'.  His  friend  the  Earl  of  Corke  and  Orrery, 
being  at  Florence,  presented  it  to  the  Acadeinia  della  Crusca. 
That  Academy  sent  Johnson  their  Vocabiilario,  and  the 
French  Academy  sent  him  their  Dictionnaire,  which  Mr, 
Langton  had  the  pleasure  to  convey  to  him^ 

It  must  undoubtedly  seem  strange,  that  the  conclusion  of 
his  Preface  should  be  expressed  in  terms  so  desponding, 
when  it  is  considered  that  the  authour  was  then  only  in  his 
forty-sixth  year.  But  we  must  ascribe  its  gloom  to  that 
miserable  dejection  of  spirits  to  which  he  was  constitution- 
ally subject,  and  which  was  aggravated  by  the  death  of  his 

out  of  tenderness  to  the  author,  and  the  world  is  little  sohcitous  to 
know  whence  proceeded  the  faults  of  that  which  it  condemns ;  yet  it 
may  gratify  curiosity  to  inform  it,  that  the  English  Dictionary  was 
written  with  little  assistance  of  the  learned,  and  without  any  patron- 
age of  the  great ;  not  in  the  soft  obscurities  of  retirement,  or  under 
the  shelter  of  academick  bowers,  but  amidst  inconvenience  and  dis- 
traction, in  sickness  and  in  sorrow.'  JVor/ts,  v.  pp.  49-51.  Thomas 
Warton  wrote  to  his  brother : — '  I  fear  his  preface  will  disgust  by  the 
expressions  of  his  consciousness  of  superiority,  and  of  his  contempt 
of  patronage.'     Wooll's  Warton,  p.  231. 

'  That  praise  was  slow  in  coming  is  shown  by  his  letter  to  Mr.  Bur- 
ney,  written  two  years  and  eight  months  after  the  publication  of  the 
Dictionary.  '  Your  praise,'  he  wrote,  '  was  welcome,  not  only  because 
I  believe  it  was  sincere,  but  because  praise  has  been  very  scarce.  .  .  . 
Yours  is  the  only  letter  of  good-will  that  I  have  received ;  though, 
indeed,  1  am  promised  something  of  that  sort  from  Sweden."  Post, 
Dec.  24,  1757. 

*  In  the  Edinburgh  Review  (No.  1,  1755)  —  a  periodical  which  only 
lasted  two  years  —  there  is  a  review  by  Adam  Smith  of  Johnson's 
Dictionary.  Smith  admits  the  'very  extraordinary  merit'  of  the  au- 
thor. 'The  plan,"  however, '  is  not  sufficiently  grammatical.'  To  ex- 
plain what  he  intends,  he  inserts  'an  article  or  two  from  Mr.  Johnson, 
and  opposes  to  them  the  same  articles,  digested  in  the  manner  which 
we  would  have  wished  him  to  have  followed.'  He  takes  the  words 
bitt  and  humour.  One  part  of  his  definition  of  humour  is  curious — 
'something  which  comes  upon  a  man  by  fits,  which  he  can  neither 
command  nor  restrain,  and  which  is  not  perfectly  consistent  with 
true  politeness,'     This  essay  has  not,  I  believe,  been  reprinted. 

wife 


346  His  melancholy  at  its  7neridian.      [a.d.  1755. 

wife  two  years  before'.  I  have  heard  it  ingeniously  observed 
by  a  lady  of  rank  and  elegance,  that  '  his  melancholy  was 
then  at  its  meridian'.'  It  pleased  GOD  to  grant  him  almost 
thirty  years  of  life  after  this  time  ;  and  once,  when  he  was 
in  a  placid  frame  of  mind,  he  was  obliged  to  own  to  me  that 
he  had  enjoyed  happier  days,  and  had  many  more  friends, 
since  that  gloomy  hour  than  before\ 

'  She  died  in  March  1752;  the  Dictionary  was  published  in  April 

1755- 

'^  In  the  Preface  he  writes  {Works,  v.  49)  : — '  Much  of  my  life  has 
been  lost  under  the  pressures  of  disease;  much  has  been  trifled  away; 
and  much  has  always  been  spent  in  provision  for  the  day  that  was 
passing  over  me.'  In  his  fine  Latin  poem  Ii/w^i  o-favroi'  'he  has  left,' 
says  Mr.  Murphy  {Life,  p.  82).  'a  picture  of  himself  drawn  with  as 
much  truth,  and  as  firm  a  hand,  as  can  be  seen  in  the  portraits  of 
Hogarth  or  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.'  He  wrote  it  after  revising  and 
enlarging  his  Dictionary,  and  he  sadly  asks  himself  what  is  left  for 
him  to  do. 

Me,  pensi  immunis  cum  jam  mihi  reddor,  inertis 
Desidiae  sors  dura  manet,  graviorque  labore 
Tristis  et  atra  quies,  et  tardae  taedia  vitae. 
Nascuntur  curis  curae,  vexatque  dolorum 
Importuna  cohors,  vacuae  mala  somnia  mentis. 
Nunc  clamosa  juvant  nocturnae  gaudia  mensae, 
Nunc  loca  sola  placent ;  frustra  te,  somne,  recumbens, 
Alme  voce,  impatiens  noctis,  metuensque  diei. 
Omnia  percurro  trepidus,  circum  omnia  lustro. 
Si  qua  usquam  pateat  melioris  semita  vitae, 
Nee  quid  agam  invenio.  .  .  . 

Quid  faciam  ?  tenebrisne  pigram  damnare  senectam 
Restat  ?  an  accingar  studiis  gravioribus  audax  ? 
Aut,  hoc  si  nimium  est,  tandem  nova  lexica  poscam  ? 

Johnson's  Works,  i.  164. 
^  A  few  weeks  before  his  wife's  death  he  wrote  in  The  Ranihlcr 
(No.  196): — 'The  miseries  of  life  would  be  increased  beyond  all  hu- 
man power  of  endurance,  if  we  were  to  enter  the  world  with  the  same 
opinions  as  we  carry  from  it.'  He  would,  I  think,  scarcely  have  ex- 
pressed himself  so  strongly  towards  his  end.  Though,  as  Dr.  Max- 
well records,  in  his  Colhctajica  {post,  1770),  'he  often  used  to  quote 
with  great  pathos  those  fine  lines  of  Virgil : — 

"Optima  quceque  dies  miseris  mortalibus  aevi 
Prima  fugit,  &c." ' 

It 


Aetat.  46.]    Friendship  kept  in  constant  repair.         347 

It  is  a  sad  saying,  that  '  most  of  those  whom  he  wished  to 
please  had  sunk  into  the  grave ;'  and  his  case  at  forty-five 
was  singularly  unhappy,  unless  the  circle  of  his  friends  was 
very  narrow.  I  have  often  thought,  that  as  longevity  is 
generally  desired,  and  I  believe,  generally  expected,  it  would 
be  wise  to  be  continually  adding  to  the  number  of  our 
friends,  that  the  loss  of  some  may  be  supplied  by  others. 
Friendship,  '  the  wine  of  life*,'  should  like  a  well-stocked 
cellar,  be  thus  continually  renewed  ;  and  it  is  consolatory  to 
think,  that  although  we  can  seldom  add  what  will  equal  the 
generous  first-grozvths  of  our  youth,  yet  friendship  becomes 
insensibly  old  in  much  less  time  than  is  commonly  imagined, 
and  not  many  years  are  required  to  make  it  very  mellow  and 
pleasant.  IVarinth  will,  no  doubt,  make  a  considerable 
difference.  Men  of  affectionate  temper  and  bright  fancy 
will  coalesce  a  great  deal  sooner  than  those  who  are  cold 
and  dull. 

The  proposition  which  I  have  now  endeavoured  to  illus- 
trate was,  at  a  subsequent  period  of  his  life,  the  opinion  of 
Johnson  himself.  He  said  to  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  '  If  a 
man  does  not  make  new  acquaintance  as  he  advances 
through  life,  he  will  soon  find  himself  left  alone.  A  man, 
Sir,  should  keep  his  friendship  m  constant  repair.' 

The  celebrated  Mr.  Wilkes,  whose  notions  and  habits  of 
life  were  very  opposite  to  his,  but  who  was  ever  eminent  for 
literature  and  vivacity,  sallied  forth  with  a  little  Jen  d'  Esprit 
upon  the  following  passage  in  his  Grammar  of  the  English 
Tongue,  prefixed  to  the  Dictionary:  ^  H  seldom,  perhaps 
never,  begins  any  but  the  first  syllable.'  In  an  Essay  print- 
ed in  The  Publick  Advertiser,  this  lively  writer  enumerated 
many  instances  in  opposition  to  this  remark ;  for  example, 
'  The  authour  of  this  observation  must  be  a  man  of  a  quick 
appre-Jiension,  and  of  a  most  compre-heiisivc  genius.'  The 
position  is  undoubtedly  expressed  with  too  much  latitude, 

yet  he  owned,  and  the  pages  of  Boswell  amply  testify,  that  it  was  in 
the  latter  period  of  his  life  that  he  had  his  happiest  days. 
'  Macbeth,  Act  ii.  sc.  3. 

This 


348  Garj'ick's  cotnplijnenlary  epigram.     [ a.d.  1755. 


This  light  sally,  we  may  suppose,  made  no  great  impres- 
sion on  our  Lexicographer  ;  for  we  find  that  he  did  not  alter 
the  passage  till  many  years  afterwards'. 

He  had  the  pleasure  of  being  treated  in  a  very  different 
manner  by  his  old  pupil  Mr.  Garrick,  in  the  following  com- 
plimentary Epigram* : 

'  On  Johnson's  Dictionary, 

'Talk  of  war  with  a  Briton,  he'll  boldly  advance, 
That  one  English  soldier  will  beat  ten  of  France  ; 
Would  we  alter  the  boast  from  the  sword  to  the  pen, 
Our  odds  are  still  greater,  still  greater  our  men  : 
In  the  deep  mines  of  science  though   I'Yenchmen  may  toil, 
Can  their  strengtii  be  compar'd  to  Locke,  Newton,  and  Boyle .'' 
Let  them  rally  dieir  heroes,  send  forth  all  their  pow'rs, 
Their  verse-men  and  prose-men,  then  match  them  with  ours  ! 
First  Shakspeare  and  Milton",  like  gods  in  the  tight. 
Have  put  their  whole  drama  and  epick  to  flight ; 
In  satires,  epistles,  and  odes,  would  diey  cope. 
Their  numbers  retreat  before  Dryden  and  Pope ; 
And  Johnson,  well  arm'd  like  a  hero  of  yore. 
Has  beat  forty  French',  and  will  beat  forty  more  !' 

Johnson  this  year  gave  at  once  a  proof  of  his  benevolence, 
quickness  of  apprehension,  and  admirable  art  of  composition, 
in  the  assistance  which  he  gave  to  Mr.  Zachariah  Williams, 
father  of  the  blind  lady  whom  he  had  humanely  received 
under  his  roof.  Mr.  Williams  had  followed  the  profession 
of  physic  in  Wales ;  but  having  a  very  strong  propensity  to 


'  In  the  third  edition,  published  in  1773,  he  left  out  the  words  per- 
haps never,  and  added  the  following  paragraph  : — 

'  It  sometimes  begins  middle  or  final  syllables  in  words  compounded, 
as  block-head,  or  derived  from  the  Latin,  as  conprc-lieJided.'  BoswELL. 
In  the  Abridgment ,  which  was  published  some  years  earlier,  after  never 
is  added  '  except  in  compounded  words.' 

'  It  was  published  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  ior  April  1755  (xxv.  190),  just 
below  the  advertisement  of  the  Dictionary. 

^  In  the  original,  '  Milton  and  Shakespeare." 

*  The  number  of  the  French  Academy  employed  in  settling  their 
language.     Bosw-ell. 

the 


Aetat.  46.]  ZacJiariah  Williams.  349 

the  study  of  natural  philosophy,  had  made  many  ingenious 
advances  towards  a  discovery  of  the  longitude,  and  repaired 
to  London  in  hopes  of  obtaining  the  great  parliamentary 
reward".  He  failed  of  success ;  but  Johnson  having  made 
himself  master  of  his  principles  and  experiments,  wrote  for 
him  a  pamphlet,  published  in  quarto,  with  the  following 
title:  An  Account  of  an  Attempt  to  ascertain  the  Longitude 
at  Sea,  by  an  exact  Theory  of  the  Variation  of  the  Magnetical 
Needle ;  with  a  Table  of  the  Variations  at  the  most  remark- 
able Cities  in  Europe,  from  the  year  1660  to  i68o.t  To 
diffuse  it  more  extensively,  it  was  accompanied  with  an 
Italian  translation  on  the  opposite  page,  which  it  is  supposed 
was  the  work  of  Signor  Baretti\  an  Italian  of  considerable 


'  The  maximum  reward  offered  by  a  bill  passed  in  1714  was  _;^20,ooo 
for  a  method  that  determined  the  longitude  at  sea  to  half  a  degree 
of  a  great  circle,  or  thirty  geographical  miles.  For  less  accuracy 
smaller  rewards  were  offered.  Ann.  Reg.  viii.  114.  In  1765  John 
Harrison  received  ^{^7,500  for  his  chronometer;  he  had  previously 
been  paid  ;ir2,5oo;  ib.  128.  In  this  Act  of  Parliament  'the  legislature 
never  contemplated  the  invention  of  a  metJiod.  but  only  of  the  means 
of  making  existing  methods  accurate.'  Penny  Cyclo.  xiv.  139.  An  old 
sea-faring  man  wrote  to  Swift  that  he  had  found  out  the  longitude. 
The  Dean  replied  '  that  he  never  knew  but  two  projectors,  one  of 
whom  ruined  himself  and  his  family,  and  the  other  hanged  himself ; 
and  desired  him  to  desist  lest  one  or  other  might  happen  to  him.' 
Swift's  Works  (1803),  xvii.  157.  In  She  Stoops  to  Conquer  (Act  i.  sc.  2), 
when  Tony  ends  his  directions  to  the  travellers  by  telling  them, — 
'  coming  to  the  farmer's  barn  you  are  to  turn  to  the  right,  and  then 
to  the  left,  and  then  to  the  right  about  again,  till  you  find  out  the  old 
mill ;'  Marlow  exclaims :  '  Zounds,  man  !  we  could  as  soon  find  out 
the  longitude.' 

'  Joseph  Baretti,  a  native  of  Piedmont,  came  to  England  in  1750 
(see  Preface  to  his  Account  of  Italy,  p.  ix).  He  died  in  May,  1789, 
In  his  Journey  from  London  to  Genoa  (ii.  276),  he  says  that  his  father 
was  one  of  the  two  architects  of  the  King  of  Sardinia.  Shortly  after 
his  death  a  writer  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  (lix.  469,  570),  who  was  believed 
to  be  Vincent,  Dean  of  Westminster,  thus  wrote  of  him  : — '  Though 
his  severity  had  created  him  enemies,  his  talents,  conversation,  and 
integrity  had  conciliated  the  regard  of  many  valuable  friends  and 
acquaintances.     His  manners  were  apparently  rough,  but  not  unso- 

literature 


350  Zachariah  Williams.  [a.d.  1755. 

literature,  who  having  come  to  England  a  few  years  before, 
had  been  employed  in  the  capacity  both  of  a  language- 
master  and  an  authour,  and  formed  an  intimac)'  with  Dr. 
Johnson,  This  pamphlet  Johnson  presented  to  the  Bodleian 
Librar}''.  On  a  blank  leaf  of  it  is  pasted  a  paragraph  cut 
out  of  a  news-paper,  containing  an  account  of  the  death  and 
character  of  Williams,  plainly  written  by  Johnson*. 

In  July  this  year  he  had  formed  some  scheme  of  mental 
improvement,  the  particular  purpose  of  which  does  not  ap- 
pear. But  we  find  in  his  Prayers  and  Meditations,  p.  25,  a 
prayer  entitled  '  On  the  Study  of  Philosophy,  as  an  Instru- 
ment of  living ;'  and  after  it  follows  a  note,  '  This  study  was 
not  pursued.' 

On  the  13th  of  the  same  month  he  wrote  in  his  Journal 
the  following  scheme  of  life  for  Sunday : 

'Having  lived'  (as  he  with  tenderness  of  conscience  expresses 
himself)  *  not  without  an  habitual  reverence  for  the  Sabbath,  yet  with- 
out that  attention  to  its  religious  duties  which  Christianity  requires; 


cial.  His  integrity  was  in  every  period  of  his  distresses  constant  and 
unimpeached.  His  wants  he  never  made  known  but  in  the  last  ex- 
tremity. He  and  Johnson  had  been  friends  in  distress.  One  even- 
ing, when  they  had  agreed  to  go  to  the  tavern,  a  foreigner  in  the 
streets,  by  a  specious  tale  of  distress,  emptied  the  Doctor's  purse  of 
the  last  half-guinea  it  contained.  When  the  reckoning  came,  what 
was  his  surprise  upon  his  recollecting  that  his  purse  was  totally  ex- 
hausted. Baretti  had  fortunately  enough  to  answer  the  demand,  and 
has  often  declared  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  not  to  reverence  a 
man,  who  could  give  away  all  that  he  was  worth,  without  recollecting 
his  own  distress.'     See  post,  Oct.  20,  1769. 

'  See  note  by  Mr.  Warton,  ante,  p.  319.     Boswell. 

"  'On  Saturday  the  12th,  about  twelve  at  night,  died  Mr.  Zachariah 
Williams,  in  his  eighty-third  year,  after  an  illness  of  eight  months,  in 
full  possession  of  his  mental  faculties.  He  has  been  long  known  to 
philosophers  and  seamen  for  his  skill  in  magnetism,  and  his  proposal 
to  ascertain  the  longitude  by  a  peculiar  system  of  the  variation  of  the 
compass.  He  was  a  man  of  industry  indefatigable,  of  conversation 
inoffensive,  patient  of  adversity  and  disease,  eminently  sober,  temper- 
ate, and  pious ;  and  worthy  to  have  ended  life  with  better  fortune.' 
BOSWELL. 

'I.  To 


Aetat.47.]        A  sclietue  of  life  for  Sunday.  351 

*i.  To  rise  early,  and  in  order  to  it,  to  go  to  sleep  early  on 
Saturday. 

*2.  To  use  some  extraordinary  devotion  in  the  morning. 

'3.  To  examine  the  tenour  of  my  life,  and  particularly  the  last 
week  ;  and  to  mark  my  advances  in  religion,  or  recession  from  it. 

'4.  To  read  the  Scripture  methodically  with  such  helps  as  are 
at  hand. 

'5.  To  go  to  church  twice. 

*6.  To  read  books  of  Divinity,  either  speculative  or  practical. 

'7.  To  instruct  my  family. 

'8.  To  wear  off  by  meditation  any  worldly  soil  contracted  in  the 
week.' 

1756:  ^TAT.  47.] — In  1756  Johnson  found  that  the  great 
fame  of  his  Dictionary  had  not  set  him  above  the  necessity  of 
*  making  provision  for  the  day  that  was  passing  over  him*.' 

'  Johnson's  Works,  v.  49.  Malone,  in  a  note  on  this  passage,  says  : — . 
•Johnson  appears  to  have  been  in  this  year  in  great  pecuniary  dis- 
tress, having  been  arrested  for  debt ;  on  which  occasion  Richardson 
became  his  surety.'  He  refers  to  the  following  letter  in  the  Richard- 
son Corres.  v.  285  : — 

'To  Mr.  Richardson. 

'Dear  Sir,  'Tuesday,  Feb.  19.  1756. 

•  I  return  you  my  sincerest  thanks  for  the  favour  which  you  were 
pleased  to  do  me  two  nights  ago.  Be  pleased  to  accept  of  this  little 
book,  which  is  all  that  I  have  published  this  winter.  The  inflammation 
is  come  again  into  my  eye,  so  that  I  can  write  very  little.  I  am.  Sir, 
your  most  obliged  and  most  humble  servant,  Sam.  Johnson.' 

The  '  little  book  '  is  not  (as  Mr.  Croker  suggests)  Williams's  Longitude, 
for  it  was  published  in  Jan.  1755  {Gent.  Mag.  xxv.  47) ;  but  the  Abridg- 
ment of  the  Dictionary,  which  was  advertised  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  for 
Jan.  1756.  Murphy  says  {Life,  p.  86),  that  he  has  before  him  a  letter 
in  Johnson's  handwriting,  which  shows  the  distress  of  the  man  who 
had  written  The  Rambler,  and  finished  the  great  work  of  his  Diction- 
ary.    It  is  directed  to  Mr.  Richardson,  and  is  as  follows : — 

'Sir, — I  am  obliged  to  entreat  your  assistance.  I  am  now  under 
an  arrest  for  five  pounds  eighteen  shillings.  Mr.  Strahan,  from  whom 
I  should  have  received  the  necessary  help  in  this  case,  is  not  at  home, 
and  I  am  afraid  of  not  finding  Mr.  Millar.  If  you  will  be  so  good  as 
to  send  me  this  sum,  I  will  very  gratefully  repay  you,  and  add  it  to  all 
former  obligations.  I  am.  Sir,  your  most  obedient  and  most  humble 
servant,  '  Samuel  Johnson.' 

'  Gough-Square,  16  March,' 

No 


352  Payment  for  the  Dictionary.       [a.d.1756. 

No  royal  or  noble  patron  extended  a  munificent  hand  to 
give  independence  to  the  man  who  had  conferred  stability 
on  the  language  of  his  country.  We  may  feel  indignant  that 
there  should  have  been  such  unworthy  neglect;  but  we  must, 
at  the  same  time,  congratulate  ourselves,  when  we  consider, 
that  to  this  very  neglect,  operating  to  rouse  the  natural  indo- 
lence of  his  constitution,  we  owe  many  valuable  productions, 
which  otherwise,  perhaps,  might  never  have  appeared. 

He  had  spent,  during  the  progress  of  the  work,  the  money 
for  which  he  had  contracted  to  write  his  Dictionary.  We 
have  seen  that  the  reward  of  his  labour  was  only  fifteen 
hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds ;  and  when  the  expence  of 
amanuenses  and  paper,  and  other  articles  are  deducted,  his 
clear  profit  was  very  inconsiderable.  I  once  said  to  him,  '  I 
am  sorry.  Sir,  you  did  not  get  more  for  your  Dictionary^ 
His  answer  was,  '  I  am  sorry,  too.  But  it  was  very  well. 
The  booksellers  are  generous,  liberal-minded  men','      He, 

In  the  margin  of  this  letter  there  is  a  memorandum  in  these  words : — • 
'March  i6,  1756.  Sent  six  guineas.  Witness,  Wm.  Richardson.'  In 
the  European  Mag.,  vii.  54,  there  is  the  following  anecdote  recorded, 
for  which  Steevens  most  likely  was  the  authority  : — '  I  remember  writ- 
ing to  Richardson  '  said  Johnson,  '  from  a  spunging-house  ;  and  was 
so  sure  of  my  deliverance  through  his  kindness  and  liberality,  that 
before  his  reply  was  brought  I  knew  I  could  afiford  to  joke  with  the 
rascal  who  had  me  in  custody,  and  did  so  over  a  pint  of  adulterated 
wine,  for  which  at  that  instant  I  had  no  money  to  pay.'  It  is  very 
likely  that  this  anecdote  has  no  other  foundation  than  Johnson's 
second  letter  to  Richardson,  which  is  dated,  not  from  a  spunging- 
house,  but  from  his  own  residence.  What  kind  of  fate  awaited  a  man 
who  was  thrown  into  prison  for  debt  is  shown  by  the  following  pas- 
sage in  Wesley's  Journal  (ii.  267),  dated  Feb.  3,  1753  : — '  I  visited  one 
in  the  Marshalsea  prison,  a  nursery  of  all  manner  of  wickedness.  O 
shame  to  man,  that  there  should  be  such  a  place,  such  a  picture  of 
hell  upon  earth !'  A  few  days  later  he  writes : — '  I  visited  as  many 
more  as  I  could.  I  found  some  in  their  cells  under  ground ;  others 
in  their  garrets,  half  starved  both  with  cold  and  hunger,  added  to 
weakness  and  pain.' 

'  In  a  Debate  on  the  Copy-right  Bill  on  May  16,  1774,  Governor 
Johnstone  said  : — '  It  had  been  urged  that  Dr.  Johnson  had  received 
an  after  gratification  from  the  booksellers  who  employed  him  to  com- 

upon 


Aetat.47.]      Johiisous  opinion  of  booksellers.  353 

upon  all  occasions,  did  ample  justice  to  their  character  in 
this  respect'.  He  considered  them  as  the  patrons  of  litera- 
ture; and,  indeed,  although  they  have  eventually  been  con- 
siderable gainers  by  his  Dictiojiary,  it  is  to  them  that  we  owe 
its  having  been  undertaken  and  carried  through  at  the  risk 
of  great  expence,  for  they  were  not  absolutely  sure  of  being 
indemnified. 

On  the  first  day  of  this  year  we  find  from  his  private  de- 
votions, that  he  had  then  recovered  from  sickness* ;  and  in 
February  that  his  eye  was  restored  to  its  use^  The  pious 
gratitude  with  Avhich  he  acknowledges  mercies  upon  every 
occasion  is  very  edifying  ;  as  is  the  humble  submission  which 
he  breathes,  when  it  is  the  will  of  his  heavenly  Father  to  try 
him  with  afflictions.     As  such  dispositions  become  the  state 

pile  his  Dtciio7iary.  He  had  in  his  hand  a  letter  from  Dr.  Johnson, 
which  he  read,  in  which  the  doctor  denied  the  assertion,  but  declared 
that  his  employers  fulfilled  their  bargain  with  him,  and  that  he  was 
satisfied.'     Pari.  H/st.xvn.  iio'^. 

*  He  more  than  once  attacked  them.  Thus  in  An  Appeal  to  the 
Public,  which  he  wrote  for  the  Ge7it.  Mag.  in  1739  (  Works,N.  348),  he 
said : — '  Nothing  is  more  criminal  in  the  opinion  of  many  of  them, 
than  for  an  author  to  enjoy  more  advantage  from  his  own  works  than 
they  are  disposed  to  allow  him.  This  is  a  principle  so  well  established 
among  them,  that  we  can  produce  some  who  threatened  printers  with 
their  highest  displeasure,  for  their  having  dared  to  print  books  for 
those  that  wrote  them.'  In  the  Life  of  Savage  {ib.  viii.  132),  written 
in  1744,  he  writes  of  the  'avarice,  by  which  the  booksellers  are  fre- 
quently incited  to  oppress  that  genius  by  which  they  are  supported.' 
In  the  Life  of  Drydcn  (ib.  vii.  299),  written  in  1779,  he  speaks  of  an 
improvement.  '  The  general  conduct  of  traders  was  much  less  liberal 
in  those  times  than  in  our  own ;  their  views  were  narrower,  and  their 
manners  grosser.  To  the  mercantile  ruggedness  of  that  race  the  deli- 
cacy of  the  poet  was  sometimes  exposed.' 

*  Prayers  and  Meditations,  p.  40  [25].  Boswell.  Johnson  wrote 
to  Miss  Boothby  on  Dec.  30,  1755  :— '  If  I  turn  my  thoughts  upon  my- 
self, what  do  I  perceive  but  a  poor  helpless  being,  reduced  by  a  blasj 
of  wind  to  weakness  and  misery?  .  .  .  Mr.  Fitzherbert  sent  to-day  to 
offer  me  some  wine  ;  the  people  about  me  say  I  ought  to  accept  it.  I 
shall  therefore  be  obliged  to  him  if  he  will  send  me  a  bottle.'  Piozzi 
Letters,  ii.  393. 

'  Prayers  and  Meditations,  p.  27.     BosWELL. 

1.-2^  of 


354  Christopher  Smart.  [a.d.  1756. 

of  man  here,  and  are  the  true  effects  of  rehgious  discipline, 
we  cannot  but  venerate  in  Johnson  one  of  the  most  exercised 
minds  that  our  holy  religion  hath  ever  formed.  If  there  be 
any  thoughtless  enough  to  suppose  such  exercise  the  weak- 
ness of  a  great  understanding,  let  them  look  up  to  Johnson 
and  be  convinced  that  what  he  so  earnestly  practised  must 
have  a  rational  foundation. 

His  works  this  year  were,  an  abstract  or  epitome,  in  octavo, 
of  his  folio  Dictionary,  and  a  few  essays  in  a  monthly  publi- 
cation, entitled,  The  Universal  Visiter.  Christopher  Smart, 
with  whose  unhappy  vacillation  of  mind  he  sincerely  sympa- 
thised, was  one  of  the  stated  undertakers  of  this  miscellany ; 
and  it  was  to  assist  him  that  Johnson  sometimes  employed 
his  pen'.  All  the  essays  marked  with  two  asterisks  have 
been  ascribed  to  him  ;  but  I  am  confident,  from  internal 
evidence,  that  of  these,  neither  '  The  Life  of  Chaucer,'  '  Re- 
flections on  the  State  of  Portugal,'  nor  an  'Essay  on  Archi- 
tecture,' were  written  by  him.  I  am  equally  confident,  upon 
the  same  evidence,  that  he  wrote  '  Further  Thoughts  on  Ag- 
riculture" ;'t  being  the  sequel  of  a  very  inferiour  essay  on  the 
same  subject,  and  which,  though  carried  on  as  if  by  the  same 
hand,  is  both  in  thinking  and  expression  so  far  above  it,  and 
so  strikingly  peculiar,  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  its  true  par- 
ent ;  and  that  he  also  wrote  *  A  Dissertation  on  the  State  of 


'  See  post,  April  6,  1775.  Kit  Smart,  once  a  Fellow  of  Pembroke 
Hall,  Cambridge,  ended  his  life  in  the  King's  Bench  Prison ;  '  where 
he  had  owed  to  a  small  subscription,  of  which  Dr.  Burney  was  at  the 
head,  a  miserable  pittance  beyond  the  prison  allowance.  In  his  latest 
letter  to  Dr.  Burney,  he  passionately  pleaded  for  a  fellow-sufferer, 
"whom  I  myself,"  he  impressively  adds,  "have  already  assisted  ac- 
cording to  my  willing  poverty."  In  another  letter  to  the  same  friend 
he  said  : — "  I  bless  God  for  your  good  nature,  which  please  to  take  for 
a  receipt."  '     Memoirs  of  Dr.  Burney,  i.  205,  280. 

*  In  this  Essay  Johnson  writes  (  H''^r>('i-,  v.  31  5)  : — 'I  think  there  is 
room  to  question  whether  a  great  part  of  mankind  has  yet  been  in- 
formed that  life  is  sustained  by  the  fruits  of  the  earth.  I  was  once,  in- 
deed, provoked  to  ask  a  lady  of  great  eminence  for  genius, "  Whether 
she  knew  of  what  bread  is  made."  ' 

Literature 


Aetat.  47.]  ThE  LiTEKARY  MaGAZINE.  355 

Literature  and  Authours'/f  and  'A  Dissertation  on  the  Epi- 
taphs written  by  Pope.'f  The  last  of  these,  indeed,  he 
afterwards  added  to  his  Idler'.  Why  the  essaj's  truly  writ- 
ten by  him  are  marked  in  the  same  manner  with  some 
which  he  did  not  write,  I  cannot  explain  ;  but  with  defer- 
ence to  those  who  have  ascribed  to  him  the  three  essays 
which  I  have  rejected,  they  want  all  the  characteristical 
marks  of  Johnsonian  composition. 

He  engaged  also  to  superintend  and  contribute  largely  to 
another  monthly  publication,  entitled  The  Literary  Magazine, 
or  Universal  Review;'^  the  first  number  of  which  came  out 
in  May  this  year^     What  were  his  emoluments  from  this 

'  In  The  Universal  Visiter  this  Essay  is  entitled, '  Reflections  on  the 
Present  State  of  Literature  ;'  and  in  Johnson's  Works,  v.  355,'  A  Proj- 
ect for  the  Employment  of  Authors.'  The  whole  world,  he  says,  is 
turning  author.  Their  number  is  so  large  that  employment  must  be 
found  for  them.  '  There  are  some  reasons  for  which  they  may  seem 
particularly  qualified  for  a  militar^^  life.  They  are  used  to  suffer  want 
of  ever}^  kind ;  they  are  accustomed  to  obey  the  word  of  command 
from  their  patrons  and  their  booksellers ;  they  have  always  passed  a 
life  of  hazard  and  adventure,  uncertain  what  maybe  their  slate  on  the 
next  day.  .  .  .  There  are  some  whom  long  depression  under  supercili- 
ous patrons  has  so  humbled  and  crushed,  that  they  will  never  have 
steadiness  to  keep  their  ranks.  But  for  these  men  there  may  be  found 
fifes  and  drums,  and  they  will  be  well  enough  pleased  to  inflame  others 
to  battle,  if  they  are  not  obliged  to  fight  themselves.' 

t  He  added  it  also  to  his  Life  of  Pope. 

•  'This  employment,'  wrote  Murphy  {^Life,  p.  88),  'engrossed  but 
little  of  Johnson's  time.  He  resigned  himself  to  indolence,  took  no 
exercise,  rose  about  two,  and  then  received  the  visits  of  his  friends. 
Authors  long  since  forgotten  waited  on  him  as  their  oracle,  and  he 
gave  responses  in  the  chair  of  criticism.  He  listened  to  the  com- 
plaints, the  schemes,  and  the  hopes  and  fears  of  a  crowd  of  inferior 
writers,  "who,"  he  said,  in  the  words  of  Roger  Ascham,  "  lived,  men 
knew  not  how,  and  died  obscure,  men  marked  not  when."  He  be- 
lieved, that  he  could  give  a  better  history  of  Grub  Street  than  any 
man  living.  His  house  was  filled  with  a  succession  of  visitors  till  four 
or  five  in  the  evening.  During  the  whole  time  he  presided  at  his  tea- 
table."  In  The  Rambler.  No.  145.  Johnson  takes  the  part  of  these  in- 
ferior writers  : — '  a  race  of  beings  equally  obscure  and  equally  indigent, 
who,  because  their  usefulness  is  less  obvious  to  vulgar  apprehensions, 

undertaking. 


356  Johnson  s  original  essays.  [a.d.  1756. 

undertaking,  and  what  other  writers  were  employed  in  it,  I 
have  not  discovered.  He  continued  to  write  in  it,  with  in- 
termissions, till  the  fifteenth  number ;  and  I  think  that  he 
never  gave  better  proofs  of  the  force,  acuteness,  and  vivacity 
of  his  mind,  than  in  this  miscellany,  whether  we  consider  his 
original  essays,  or  his  reviews  of  the  works  of  others.  The 
'Preliminary  Address 'f  to  the  Publick  is  a  proof  how  this 
great  man  could  embellish,  with  the  graces  of  superiour  com- 
position, even  so  trite  a  thing  as  the  plan  of  a  magazine. 

His  original  essays  are,  'An  Introduction  to  the  Political 
State  of  Great  BritainVt  '  Remarks  on  the  Militia  BilF;'t 
'  Observations  on  his  Britannick  Majesty's  Treaties  with 
the  Empress  of  Russia  and  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Cas- 
seF;'!  'Observations  on  the  Present  State  of  Affairs^ ;'t  and 

live  unrewarded  and  die  unpitied,  and  who  have  been  long  exposed  to 
insult  without  a  defender,  and  to  censure  without  an  apologist.' 

'  In  this  essay  {Works,  vi.  129)  Johnson  describes  Canada  as  a 
'  region  of  desolate  sterility,' '  a  cold,  uncomfortable,  uninviting  region, 
from  which  nothing  but  furs  and  fish  were  to  be  had.' 

'  The  bill  of  1756  that  he  considers  passed  through  the  Commons 
but  was  rejected  by  the  Lords.  It  is  curious  as  showing  the  compara- 
tive population  of  the  different  counties.  Devonshire  was  to  furnish 
3200  men — twice  as  many  as  Lancashire.  Essex,  Kent,  Norfolk  and 
Sufifolk  were  each  to  furnish  1920  men;  Lancashire,  Surrey,  Sussex, 
and  Wiltshire  1600;  Durham  and  Bedfordshire  800.  From  the  three 
Ridings  of  Yorkshire  4800  were  to  be  raised.  The  men  were  to  be 
exercised  every  Sunday  before  and  after  service.  The  Lzicrary  Mag- 
azine, p.  48. 

'  In  this  paper  are  found  the  forcible  words, '  The  desperate  remedy  of 
desperate  distress.'  which  have  been  used  since  by  orators.    lb.  p.  121. 

*  john.son  considers  here  the  war  in  America  between  the  English 
and  French,  and  shows  a  strong  feeling  for  the  natives  who  had  been 
wronged  by  both  nations.  '  Such  is  the  contest  that  no  honest  man 
can  heartily  wish  success  to  either  party.  .  .  .  The  American  dispute 
between  the  French  and  us  is  only  the  quarrel  of  two  robbers  for  the 
spoils  of  a  passenger.'  The  French  had  this  in  their  favour,  that  they 
had  treated  the  natives  better  than  we.  '  The  favour  of  the  Indians 
which  t'ney  enjoy  with  very  few  exceptions  among  all  the  nations  of 
the  northern  continent  we  ought  to  consider  with  other  thoughts  ;  this 
favour  we  might  have  enjoyed,  if  we  had  been  careful  to  deserve  it.' 
Works,  vi.  114,  122. 

'  Memoirs 


Aetat. 47.]  yohuson s  ^ Brownism'  357 

*  Memoirs  of  Frederick  III,  King  of  Prussia'. 'f  In  all  these 
he  displays  extensive  political  knowledge  and  sagacity,  ex- 
pressed with  uncommon  energy  and  perspicuity,  without  any 
of  those  words  which  he  sometimes  took  a  pleasure  in  adopt- 
ing in  imitation  of  Sir  Thomas  Browne ;  of  whose  Christian 
Morals  he  this  year  gave  an  edition,  with  his  '  Life'*  prefixed 
to  it,  which  is  one  of  Johnson's  best  biographical  perform- 
ances. In  one  instance  only  in  these  essays  has  he  indulged 
his  Brownisni^ .  Dr.  Robertson,  the  historian,  mentioned  it  to 
me,  as  having  at  once  convinced  him  that  Johnson  was  the 
authour  of  the  'Memoirs  of  the  King  of  Prussia.'  Speaking 
of  the  pride  which  the  old  King,  the  father  of  his  hero,  took 
in  being  master  of  the  tallest  regiment  in  Europe,  he  says, 
'  To  review  this  towering  regiment  was  his  daily  pleasure ; 
and  to  perpetuate  it  was  so  much  his  care,  that  when  he  met 
a  tall  woman  he  immediately  commanded  one  of  his  Titanian 
retinue  to  marry  her,  that  they  might  propagate  procerity^ ." 
For  this  Anglo-Latian  word  procerity,  Johnson  had,  however, 
the  authority  of  Addison*. 

His  reviews  are  of  the  following  books:  'Birch's  History 
of  the  Royal  Society ;'t  'Murphy's  Gray's  Inn  Journal;'! 
'  Warton's  Essay  on  the  Writings  and  Genius  of  Pope,  Vol. 
I.'t  '  Hampton's  Translation  of  Polybius  ;'t  '  Blackwell's  Me- 
moirs of  the  Court  of  Augustus  ;'t  '  Russel's  Natural  History 
of  Alepipo'Vt  '  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  Arguments  in  Proof  of  a 


'  These  Memoirs  end  with  the  year  1745.  Johnson  had  intended  to 
continue  them,  for  he  writes  : — '  We  shall  here  suspend  our  narrative.' 
Works,  vi.  474. 

*  See  ante,  p.  256. 

'  The  sentence  continues  : — 'and  produce  heirs  to  the  father's  ha- 
biliments.' Works,  vi.  436.  Another  instance  may  be  adduced  of  his 
Brownism  in  the  following  line  : — '  The  war  continued  in  an  equilibra- 
tion by  alternate  losses  and  advantages.'     Ih.  473. 

*  In  a  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Tall  Club  in  The  Guardian, 
No.  108.  '  If  the  fair  sex  look  upon  us  with  an  eye  of  favour,  we  shall 
make  some  attempts  to  lengthen  out  the  human  figure,  and  restore  it 
to  its  ancient  procerity.' 

*  See  post,  March  23,  1783. 

Deity;* 


358  The  earthquake  of  Lisbon.  [a.d.  1756. 

Deity  ;'t  '  Borlase's  History  of  the  Isles  of  Scilly  ;'t  '  Home's 
Experiments  on  Bleaching  ;'t  '  Browne's  Christian  Morals  ;'t 
'Hales  on  Distilling  Sea -Water,  Ventilators  in  Ships,  and 
curing  an  ill  Taste  in  Milk;'f  'Lucas's  Essay  on  Waters ;'t 
'  Keith's  Catalogue  of  the  Scottish  Bishops  ;'t  '  Browne's  His- 
tory of  Jamaica  ;'t '  Philosophical  Transactions,  Vol.  XLIX.'f 
'  Mrs.  Lennox's  Translation  of  Sully's  Memoirs;'*  '  Miscella- 
nies by  Elizabeth  Harrison  ;'t  '  Evans's  Map  and  Account  of 
the  Middle  Colonies  in  AmericaVt  '  Letter  on  the  Case  of 
Admiral  Byng;'*  'Appeal  to  the  People  concerning  Admiral 
Byng;'*  '  Hanway's  Eight  Days  Journey,  and  Essay  on  Tea;'* 
'  The  Cadet,  a  Military  Treatise  ;'t  '  Some  further  Particulars 
in  Relation  to  the  Case  of  Admiral  Byng,  by  a  Gentleman 
of  Oxford;'*  'The  Conduct  of  the  Ministry  relating  to  the 
present  War  impartially  examined  ;'t  'A  free  Inquiry  into  the 
Nature  and  Origin  of  Evil.'*  All  these,  from  internal  evi- 
dence, were  written  by  Johnson;  some  of  them  I  know  he 
avowed,  and  have  marked  them  with  an  asterisk  accordingly'. 


'  '  As  power  is  the  constant  and  unavoidable  consequence  of  learn- 
ing, there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  time  is  approaching  when  the 
Americans  shall  in  their  turn  have  some  influence  on  the  affairs  of 
mankind,  for  literature  apparently  gains  ground  among  them.  A  li- 
brary is  established  in  Carolina  and  some  great  electrical  discoveries 
were  made  at  Philadelphia.  .  .  .  The  fear  that  the  American  colonies 
will  break  off  their  dependence  on  England  I  have  always  thought 
chimerical  and  vain.  .  .  .  They  must  be  dependent,  and  if  they  forsake 
us,  or  be  forsaken  by  us,  must  fall  into  the  hands  of  France.'  Literary 
Magazine,  pp.  293,  299. 

'  Johnson,  I  have  no  doubt,  wrote  the  Review  of  A  True  Account  of 
Lisbon  since  the  Earthquake,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  the  destruction 
was  grossly  exaggerated.  After  quoting  the  writer  at  length,  he  con- 
cludes : — '  Such  then  is  the  actual,  real  situation  of  that  place  which 
once  was  Lisbon,  and  has  been  since  gazetically  and  pamphletically 
quite  destroyed,  consumed,  annihilated  !  Now,  upon  comparing  this 
simple  narration  of  things  and  facts  with  the  false  and  absurd  accounts 
which  have  rather  insulted  and  imposed  upon  us  than  informed  us, 
who  but  must  see  the  enormous  disproportion  ?  .  .  .  Exaggeration 
and  the  absurdities  ever  faithfully  attached  to  it  arc  inseparable  attri- 
butes of  the  ignorant,  the  empty,  and  the  aflfected.     Hence  those  elo- 

Mr. 


Aetat.47.]         Johnsons  ardoiir  fov  liberty.  359 

Mr,  Thomas  Davies  indeed,  ascribed  to  him  the  Review  of 
Mr.  Burke's  '  Inquir>^  into  the  Origin  of  our  Ideas  of  the 
Subhme  and  Beautiful;'  and  Sir  John  Hawkins,  with  equal 
discernment,  has  inserted  it  in  his  collection  of  Johnson's 
works:  whereas  it  has  no  resemblance  to  Johnson's  composi- 
tion, and  is  well  known  to  have  been  written  by  Mr.  Murpliy, 
who  has  acknowledged  it  to  me  and  many  others. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  in  justice  to  Johnson's  political 
character,  which  has  been  misrepresented  as  abjectly  submis- 
sive to  power,  that  his  'Observations  on  the  Present  State  of 
Affairs'  glow  with  as  animated  a  spirit  of  constitutional  lib- 
erty as  can  be  found  anywhere.     Thus  he  begins : 

'  The  time  is  now  come,  in  which  every  Englishman  expects  to 
be  informed  of  the  national  affairs ;  and  in  which  he  has  a  right  to 
have  that  expectation  gratified.  For,  whatever  may  be  urged  by 
Ministers,  or  those  whom  vanity  or  interest  make  the  followers  of 
ministers,  concerning  the  necessity  of  confidence  in  our  govern- 
ours,  and  the  presumption  of  prying  with  profane  eyes  into  the 
recesses  of  policy,  it  is  evident  that  this  reverence  can  be  claimed 
only  by  counsels  yet  unexecuted,  and  projects  suspended  in  delib- 
eration. But  when  a  design  has  ended  in  miscarriage  or  success, 
when  every  eye  and  every  ear  is  witness  to  general  discontent,  or 
general  satisfaction,  it  is  then  a  proper  time  to  disentangle  confu- 
sion and  illustrate  obscurity  ;  to  shew  by  what  causes  every  event 
was  produced,  and  in  what  effects  it  is  likely  to  terminate  ;  to  lay 
down  with  distinct  particularity  what  rumour  always  huddles  in  gen- 
eral exclamation,  or  perplexes  by  indigested'  narratives  ;  to  shew 
whence  happiness  or  calamity  is  derived,  and  whence  it  may  be 
expected  ;  and  honestly  to  lay  before  the  people  what  inquiry  can 
gather  of  the  past,  and  conjecture  can  estimate  of  the  future'.' 


quent  tropes  so  familiar  in  every  conversation,  nionstroiisly  pretty, 
vastly  little ;  .  .  .  hence  your  eminent  shoe-7naker,  farriers,  and  under- 
takers. ...  It  is  to  the  same  muddy  source  we  owe  the  many  falsehoods 
and  absurdities  we  have  been  pestered  with  concerning  Lisbon. 
Thence  your  extravagantly  sublime  figures:  Lisbon  is  no  more ;  can  be 

seen  no  more,  etc with  all  the  other  prodigal  effusions  of  bombast 

beyond  the  stretch  of  time  or  temper  to  enumerate.'  lb.  p.  22.  Sec 
post,  under  March  30,  1778. 

'  In  the  original  undigested.,  *  Johnson's  Works,  vi.  113. 

Here 


360  Dr.  Lucas.  [a.d.  175«. 

Here  we  have  it  assumed  as  an  incontrovertible  principle, 
that  in  this  country  the  people  are  the  superintendants  of 
the  conduct  and  measures  of  those  by  whom  government  is 
administered ;  of  the  beneficial  effect  of  which  the  present 
reign  afforded  an  illustrious  example,  when  addresses  from 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom  controuled  an  audacious  attempt  to 
introduce  a  new  power  subversive  of  the  crown". 

A  still  stronger  proof  of  his  patriotick  spirit  appears  in  his 
review  of  an  '  Essay  on  Waters,  by  Dr.  Lucas;'  of  whom,  after 
describing  him  as  a  man  well  known  to  the  world  for  his 
daring  defiance  of  power,  when  he  thought  it  exerted  on  the 
side  of  wrong,  he  thus  speaks : 

'The  Irish  ministers  drove  him  from  his  native  country  by  a  proc- 
lamation, in  which  they  charged  him  with  crimes  of  which  they 
never  intended  to  be  called  to  tlie  proof,  and  oppressed  by  methods 
equally  irresistible  by  guilt  and  innocence. 

'  Let  the  man  thus  driven  into  exile,  for  having  been  the  friend 
of  his  country,  be  received  in  every  other  place  as  a  confessor  of 
liberty  ;  and  let  the  tools  of  power  be  taught  in  time,  that  they  may 
rob,  but  cannot  impoverish^' 

Some  of  his  reviews  in  this  Magazine  are  very  short  ac- 
counts of  the  pieces  noticed,  and  1  mention  them  only  that 
Dr.  Johnson's  opinion  of  the  works  may  be  known  ;  but 
many  of  them  are  examples  of  elaborate  criticism,  in  the 


'  In  the  spring  of  1784,  after  the  king  had  taken  advantage  of  Fox's 
India  Bill  to  dismiss  the  Coalition  Ministry.    Stt  post,  March  28,  1784. 

*  In  Ireland  there  was  no  act  to  limit  the  duration  of  parliament. 
One  parliament  sat  through  the  whole  reign  of  George  II.— thirty- 
three  years.  Dr.  Lucas,  a  Dublin  physician,  in  attacking  other  griev- 
ances, attacked  also  this.  In  1749  he  would  have  been  elected  mem- 
ber for  Dublin,  had  he  not,  on  a  charge  of  seditious  writings,  been 
committed  by  the  House  of  Commons  to  prison.  He  was  to  be  con- 
fined, he  was  told,  '  in  the  common  hall  of  the  prison  among  the 
felons.'  He  fled  to  England,  which  was  all  that  the  government 
wanted,  and  he  practised  as  a  physician  in  London.  In  1761  he  was 
restored  to  the  liberties  of  the  City  of  Dublin  and  was  also  elected 
one  of  its  members.  Hardy's  Lord  Charlemont,  i.  249,  299 ;  and  Gent. 
Mag.,  XX.  58  and  xxxi.  236. 

most 


Aetat.  47.]    yohnson  s  orthodoxy  and  candour.  361 

most  masterly  style.  In  his  review  of  the  '  Memoirs  of  the 
Court  of  Augustus,'  he  has  the  resolution  to  think  and  speak 
from  his  own  mind,  regardless  of  the  cant  transmitted  from 
age  to  age,  in  praise  of  the  ancient  Romans'.     Thus, 

*  I  know  not  why  any  one  but  a  school-boy  in  his  declamation 
should  whine  over  the  Common-wealth  of  Rome,  which  grew  great 
only  by  the  misery  of  the  rest  of  mankind.  The  Romans,  like 
others,  as  soon  as  they  grew  rich,  grew  corrupt ;  and  in  their  cor- 
ruption sold  the  lives  and  freedoms  of  themselves,  and  of  one 
another'*.' 

Again, 

'A  people,  who,  while  they  were  poor,  robbed  mankind;  and  as 
soon  as  they  became  rich,  robbed  one  another'.' 

In  his  review  of  the  Miscellanies  in  prose  and  verse,  pub- 
lished by  Elizabeth  Harrison,  but  written  by  many  hands, 
he  gives  an  eminent  proof  at  once  of  his  orthodoxy  and 
candour : 

'  The  authours  of  the  essays  in  prose  seem  generally  to  have 
imitated,  or  tried  to  imitate,  the  copiousness  and  luxuriance  of  Mrs. 
Rowe^.  This,  however,  is  not  all  their  praise  ;  they  have  laboured 
to  add  to  her  brightness  of  imagery,  her  purity  of  sentiments.  The 
poets  have  had  Dr.  Watts  before  their  eyes ;  a  writer,  who,  if  he 
stood  not  in  the  first  class  of  genius,  compensated  that  defect  by  a 
ready  application  of  his  powers  to  the  promotion  of  piety.  The 
attempt  to  employ  the  ornaments  of  romance  in  the  decoration  of 
religion,  was,  I  think,  first  made  by  Mr.  Boyle's  Martyrdom  of  Theo- 
dora ;  but  Boyle's  philosophical  studies  did  not  allow  him  time  for 
the  cultivation  of  style  ;  and  the  completion  of  the  great  design 
was  reserved  for  Mrs.  Bo7ve.  Dr.  Watts  was  one  of  the  first  who 
taught  the  Dissenters  to  write  and  speak  like  other  men,  by  shewing 


'  Boswell  himself  falls  into  this  'cant.'     See  post,  Sept.  23,  1777. 

'  Johnson's  IVor^s,  vi.  11. 

'  li/.  p.  13.  He  vigorously  attacks  the  style  in  which  these  'Me- 
moirs' are  written.  'Sometimes,'  he  writes,  'the  reader  is  suddenly 
ravished  with  a  sonorous  sentence,  of  which,  when  the  noise  is  past, 
the  meaning  does  not  long  remain.'     /I?,  p.  15. 

*  The  author  of  Friendship  ift  Death. 

theno 


362  Dr.  Watts,  [a.d.  1756. 

them  that  elegance  might  consist  with  piety'.  They  would  have 
both  done  honour  to  a  better  society",  for  they  had  that  char- 
ity which  might  well  make  their  failings  be  forgotten,  and  with 
w^hich  the  whole  Christian  world  might  wish  for  communion.  They 
were  pure  from  all  the  heresies  of  an  age,  to  which  ever)'  opin- 
ion is  become  a  favourite  that  the  universal  church  has  hitherto 
detested  ! 

'  This  praise,  the  general  interest  of  mankind  requires  to  be  given 
to  writers  who  please  and  do  not  corrupt,  who  instruct  and  do  not 
weary.  But  to  them  all  human  eulogies  are  vain,  whom  I  believe 
applauded  by  angels,  and  numbered  with  the  just\" 

His  defence  of  tea  against  Mr.  Jonas  Hanway's  violent 
attack  upon  that  elegant  and  popular  beverage^  shews  how 


*  In  the  Lh'cs  of  the  Poets  (  Works,  viii.  383)  Johnson  writes  : — *  Dr. 
Watts  was  one  of  the  first  authors  that  taught  the  Dissenters  to  court 
attention  by  the  graces  of  language.  Whatever  they  had  among  them 
before,  whether  of  learning  or  acuteness,  was  commonly  obscured  and 
blunted  by  coarseness  and  inelegance  of  style.  He  showed  them  that 
zeal  and  purity  might  be  expressed  and  enforced  by  polished  diction." 

^  '  Such  he  [Dr.  Watts]  was  as  every  Christian  Church  would  rejoice 
to  have  adopted.'  lb.  p.  380.  See  also  post,]\x\y  7,  1777,  and  May  19, 
1778. 

'  Johnson's  Works,  vi.  79. 

*  Mr.  Hanway  would  have  had  the  support  of  Johnson's  father,  who, 
as  his  son  writes,  'considered  tea  as  very  expensive,  and  discouraged 
my  mother  from  keeping  company  with  the  neighbours,  and  from  pay- 
ing visits  or  receiving  them.  She  lived  to  say,  many  years  after,  that 
if  the  time  were  to  pass  again,  she  would  not  comply  with  such  un- 
social injunctions.'  Account  of  Johtisons  Early  Life,  p.  18.  The 
Methodists,  ten  years  earlier  than  Hanway,  had  declared  war  on  tea. 
'  After  talking  largely  with  both  the  men  and  women  Leaders,'  writes 
Wesley,  '  we  agreed  it  would  prevent  great  expense,  as  well  of  health 
as  of  time  and  of  money,  if  the  poorer  people  of  our  society  could  be 
persuaded  to  leave  off  drinking  of  tea.'  Wesley's  Jourfml,  i.  526. 
Pepys,  writing  in  1660,  says:  'I  did  send  for  a  cup  of  tee,  (a  China 
drink)  of  which  I  never  had  drank  before.'  Pepys'  Diary,  i.  137. 
Horace  Walpole  {Letters,  i.  224)  writing  in  1743  says: — 'They  have 
talked  of  a  new  duty  on  tea,  to  be  paid  by  every  housekeeper  for  all 
the  persons  in  their  families;  but  it  will  scarce  be  proposed.  Tea  is  so 
universal,  that  it  would  make  a  greater  clamour  than  a  duty  on  wine.' 
In  October  1734  tea  was  sold  in  London  at  the  following  prices : — 

very 


Aetat.47.]  yohnson  s  tea-drinking.  363 

v^ery  well  a  man  of  genius  can  write  upon  the  slightest  sub- 
ject, when  he  writes,  as  the  Italians  say,  con  atnore:  I  sup- 
pose no  person  ever  enjoyed  with  more  relish  the  infusion  of 
that  fragrant  leaf  than  Johnson'.  The  quantities  which  he 
drank  of  it  at  all  hours  were  so  great,  that  his  nerves  must 
have  been  uncommonly  strong,  not  to  have  been  extremely 
relaxed  by  such  an  intemperate  use  of  it^  He  assured  me, 
that  he  never  felt  the  least  inconvenience  from  it  ;  which  is  a 
proof  that  the  fault  of  his  constitution  was  rather  a  too  great 
tension  of  fibres,  than  the  contrary.  Mr.  Hanway  wrote  an 
angry  answer  to  Johnson's  review  of  his  Essay  on  Tea,  and 
Johnson,  after  a  full  and  deliberate  pause,  made  a  reply  to 
it ;  the  only  instance,  I  believe,  in  the  whole  course  of  his 

Ordinary  Bohea    ()s.  per  lb. 

Fine  "       lo^-.  to  \2s. 

Pekoe  1 5^-. 

Hyson  20^-.  to  25^. 

Getit.  Mag.  iv.  575. 

'  Yet  in  his  reply  to  Mr.  Hanway  he  said  (  Works,  vi.  33) : — '  I  allowed 
tea  to  be  a  barren  superfluity,  neither  medicinal  nor  nutritious,  that 
neither  supplied  strength  nor  cheerfulness,  neither  relieved  weariness, 
nor  exhilarated  sorrow.'  Cumberland  writes  {Memoirs,  i.  357)  : — '  I 
remember  when  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  at  my  house  reminded  Dr.  John- 
son that  he  had  drank  eleven  cups,  he  replied  : — "  Sir,  I  did  not  count 
your  glasses  of  wine,  why  should  you  number  up  my  cups  of  tea.'" 
And  then  laughing  in  perfect  good  humour  he  added  : — "  Sir,  I  should 
have  relea.sed  the  lady  from  any  further  trouble,  if  it  had  not  been  for 
your  remark ;  but  you  have  reminded  me  that  I  want  one  of  the  dozen, 
and  I  must  request  Mrs.  Cumberland  to  round  up  my  number."  ' 

'■*  In  this  Review  Johnson  describes  himself  as  '  a  hardened  and 
shameless  tea- drinker,  who  has  for  twenty  years  diluted  his  meals 
with  only  the  infusion  of  this  fascinating  plant ;  whose  kettle  has 
scarcely  time  to  cool ;  who  with  tea  amuses  the  evening,  with  tea 
solaces  the  midnight,  and  with  tea  welcomes  the  morning.'  Johnson's 
Works,  vi.  21.  That  '  he  never  felt  the  least  inconvenience  from  it' 
may  well  be  doubted.  His  nights  were  almost  always  bad.  In  1774 
he  recorded  : — '  I  could  not  drink  this  day  either  coffee  or  tea  after 
dinner.  I  know  not  when  I  missed  before.'  The  next  day  he  record- 
ed ; — '  Last  night  my  sleep  was  remarkably  quiet.  I  know  not  whether 
by  fatigue  in  walking,  or  by  forbearance  of  tea.'  Diary  of  a  Journey 
into  North  Wales,  Aug.  4. 

life. 


364  Admiral  Byng.  [a.d.  1756. 

life,  when  he  condescended  to  oppose  any  thing  that  was 
written  against  him'.  I  suppose  when  he  thought  of  any  of 
his  little  antagonists,  he  was  ever  justly  aware  of  the  high 
sentiment  of  Ajax  in  Ovid: 

'  Iste  hilit  pretiiim  jam  nmic  certaminis  huj'us, 
Qui,  cy7fi  victus  €?-it,  mecuni  certasse  feretur^^ 

But,  indeed,  the  good  Mr.  Hanway  laid  himself  so  open  to 
ridicule,  that  Johnson's  animadversions  upon  his  attack  were 
chiefly  to  make  sport\ 

The  generosity  with  which  he  pleads  the  cause  of  Admiral 
Byng  is  highly  to  the  honour  of  his  heart  and  spirit.  Though 
Voltaire  affects  to  be  witty  upon  the  fate  of  that  unfortunate 
officer,  observing  that  he  was  shot  'pour  ciicoiirager  les  autn^s*,' 
the  nation  has  long  been  satisfied  that  his  life  was  sacrificed 
to  the  political  fervour  of  the  times.  In  the  vault  belonging 
to  the  Torrington  family,  in  the  church  of  SouthilT,  in  Bed- 
fordshire, there  is  the  following  Epitaph  upon  his  monument, 
which  I  have  transcribed : 


'  See  post,  May  1768. 

*  '  Losing,  he  wins,  because  his  name  will  be 

Ennobled  by  defeat  who  durst  contend  with  me,' 

Dryden,  Ovid,  Afc/a.  xiii.  19. 
^  In  Hanway's  Essay  Johnson  found  much  to  praise.  Hanway  often 
went  to  the  root  when  he  dealt  with  the  evils  of  life.  Thus  he  writes : 
■ — 'The  introducing  new  habits  of  life  is  the  most  substantial  charity.' 
Rut  he  thus  mingles  sense  and  nonsense  : — '  Though  tea  and  gin  have 
spread  their  baneful  influence  over  this  island  and  his  Majesty's  other 
dominions,  yet  you  may  be  well  assured  that  the  Governors  of  the 
Foundling  Hospital  will  exert  their  utmost  skill  and  vigilance  to  pre- 
vent the  children  under  their  care  from  being  poisoned,  or  enervated, 
by  one  or  the  other.'     Johnson's  Works,  vi.  26,  28. 

*  '  Et  pourquoi  tuer  cet  amiral }  C'est,  lui  dit-on,  parce  qu'il  n'a  pas 
fait  tuer  assez  de  monde ;  il  a  livre  un  combat  a  un  amiral  fran(;ais, 
et  on  a  trouve  qu'il  n'etait  pas  assez  pres  de  lui.  Mais,  dit  Candide, 
I'amiral  frangais  etait  aussi  loin  de  I'amiral  anglais  que  celui-ci  I'etait 
de  I'autre.  Cela  est  incontestable,  lui  repliquat-on  ;  mais  dans  ce 
pays-ci  il  est  bon  de  tuer  de  temps  en  temps  un  amiral  pour  encoura- 
ger  les  autres.'     Candide,  ch.  xxiii. 

*  See  post,  June  3,  1781,  when  Boswell  went  to  this  church. 

'To 


Aetat.47.]  Soame  yenyns.  3:65. 

'To  THE   PERPETUAL   DISGRACE 

OF  PUBLIC  Justice, 

The  Honourable  John  Byng,  Esq. 

Admiral  of  the  Blue, 

Fell  a  Martyr  to  political 

Persecution, 
March  14,  in  the  Year,  1757; 
when  Bravery  and  Loyalty 

WERE  insufficient  SECURITIES 

FOR  THE  Life  and  Honour  of 
A  Naval  Officer.' 

Johnson's  most  exquisite  critical  essay  in  the  Literary 
Magazine,  and  indeed  any  where,  is  his  review'  of  Soame 
Jenyns's  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  Evil.  Jenyns  was  pos- 
sessed of  Hvely  talents,  and  a  style  eminently  pure  and  easy, 
and  could  very  happily  play  with  a  light  subject,  either  in 
prose  or  verse ;  but  when  he  speculated  on  that  most  difficult 
and  excruciating  question,  the  Origin  of  Evil,  he  '  ventured 
far  beyond  his  depth^'  and,  accordingly,  was  exposed  by 
Johnson,  both  with  acute  argument  and  brilliant  wit.  I  re- 
member when  the  late  Mr.  Bicknell's  humorous  perform- 
ance, entitled  TJic  Musical  Travels  of  Joel  Collyer" ,  in  which 
a  slight  attempt  is  made  to  ridicule  Johnson,  was  ascribed  to 
Soame  Jenyns,  '  Ha !  (said  Johnson)  I  thought  I  had  given 
him  enough  of  it.' 

His  triumph  over  Jenyns  is  thus  described  by  my  friend 
Mr.  Courtenay  in  his  Poetical  Review  of  the  literary  and 
moral  Character  of  Dr.  Johnson  ;    a   performance  of   such 

'  Johnson  reprinted  this  Review  in  a  small  volume  by  itself.  See 
Johnson's  Works,  vi.  47,  note. 

*  '  I  have  ventured. 
Like  little  wanton  boys  that  swim  on  bladders, 
This  many  summers  in  a  sea  of  glory. 

But  far  beyond  my  depth.' 

Henry  VHI.  Act  iii.  sc.  1. 

*  Musical  Travels  through  England,  by  Joel  Collier  [not  Collyer], 
Organist.  1774.  This  book  was  written  in  ridicule  of  Dr.  Burney's 
Travels,  who.  says  his  daughter,  '  was  much  hurt  on  its  first  appear- 
ance.'    Dr.  Burney's  Memoirs,  i.  259, 

merit, 


366  yohnsons  triumph  over  Jenyns.     [a.d.  1756. 

merit,  that  had  I  not  been  honoured  with  a  very  kind  and 
partial  notice  in  it',  I  should  echo  the  sentiments  of  men  of 
the  first  taste  loudly  in  its  praise : 

'  When  specious  sophists  with  presumption  scan 
The  source  of  evil  hidden  still  from  man  ; 
Revive  Arabian  tales,  and  vainly  hope 
To  rival  St.  John,  and  his  scholar  Pope  : 
Though  metaphysicks  spread  the  gloom  of  night, 
By  reason's  star  he  guides  our  aching  sight ; 
The  bounds  of  knowledge  marks,  and  points  the  way 
To  pathless  wastes,  where  wilder'd  sages  stray ; 
Where,  like  a  farthing  link-boy,  Jenyns  stands. 
And  the  dim  torch  drops  from  his  feeble  hands\' 

*  See  a)ttc,  p.  258. 

*  Some  time  after  Dr.  Johnson's  death  there  appeared  in  the  news- 
papers and  magazines  an  illiberal  and  petulant  attack  upon  him,  in 
the  form  of  an  Epitaph,  under  the  name  of  Mr.  Soame  Jenyns,  very 
unworthy  of  that  gentleman,  who  had  quietly  submitted  to  the  critical 
lash  while  Johnson  lived.  It  assumed,  as  characteristicks  of  him,  all 
the  vulgar  circumstances  of  abuse  which  had  circulated  amongst  the 
ignorant.  It  was  an  unbecoming  indulgence  of  puny  resentment,  at 
a  time  when  he  himself  was  at  a  very  advanced  age,  and  had  a  near 
prospect  of  descending  to  the  grave.  I  was  truly  sorry  for  it ;  for  he 
was  then  become  an  avowed,  and  (as  my  Lord  Bishop  of  London,  who 
had  a  serious  conversation  with  him  on  the  subject,  assures  me)  a  sin- 
cere Christian.  He  could  not  expect  that  Johnson's  numerous  friends 
would  patiently  bear  to  have  the  memory  of  their  master  stigmatized 
by  no  mean  pen,  but  that,  at  least,  one  would  be  found  to  retort.  Ac- 
cordingly, this  unjust  and  sarcastick  Epitaph  was  met  in  the  same 
publick  field  by  an  answer,  in  terms  by  no  means  soft,  and  such  as 
wanton  provocation  only  could  justify  : 

'  EPITAPH, 
'  Prepared  for  a  creature  not  quite  dead  yet. 
'  Here  lies  a  little  ugly  nauseous  elf. 
Who  judging  only  from  its  wretched  self, 
Feebly  attempted,  petulant  and  vain, 
The  "  Origin  of  Evil "  to  explain. 
A  mighty  Genius  at  this  elf  displeeis'd, 
With  a  strong  critick  grasp  the  urchin  squeez'd. 
For  thirty  years  its  coward  spleen  it  kept. 
Till  in  the  dust  the  mighty  Genius  slept ; 

This 


Aetat.  47.]  Draughts  and  cards.  367 


This  year  Mr.  William  Payne,  brother  of  the  respectable 
Bookseller'  of  that  name,  published  An  Introduction  to  the 
Game  of  Draughts,  to  which  Johnson  contributed  a  Dedi- 
cation to  the  Earl  of  Rochford,*  and  a  Preface,*  both  of 
which  are  admirably  adapted  to  the  treatise  to  which  they 
are  prefixed.  Johnson,  I  believe,  did  not  play  at  draughts 
after  leaving  College",  by  which  he  suffered ;  for  it  would 
have  afforded  him  an  innocent  soothing  relief  from  the 
melancholy  which  distressed  him  so  often.  I  have  heard 
him  regret  that  he  had  not  learnt  to  play  at  cards^ ;  and  the 
game  of  draughts  we  know  is  peculiarly  calculated  to  fix  the 
attention  without  straining  it.  There  is  a  composure  and 
gravity  in  draughts  which  insensibly  tranquillises  the  mind  ; 
and,  accordingly,  the  Dutch  are  fond  of  it,  as  they  are  of 
smoaking,  of  the  sedative  influence  of  which,  though  he  him- 
self never  smoaked,  he  had  a  high  opinion\  Besides,  there 
is  in  draughts  some  exercise  of  the  faculties  ;  and,  accord- 
ingly, Johnson  wishing  to  dignify  the  subject  in  his  Dedica- 
tion with  what  is  most  estimable  in  it,  observes, 

'  Triflers  may  find  or  make  any  thing  a  trifle ;  but  since  it  is  the 
great  characteristick  of  a  wise  man  to  see  events  in  their  courses, 
to  obviate  consequences,  and  ascertain  contingencies,  your  Lord- 
ship will  think  nothing  a  trifle  by  which  the  mind  is  inured  to  cau- 
tion, foresight,  and  circumspection'.' 

Then  stunk  and  fretted  in  expiring  snuff, 

And  blink'd  at  Johnson  with  its  last  poor  puff.' 

BOSWELL. 

The  epitaph  is  very  Hkely  Boswell's  own.  For  Jenyns's  conversion 
seepos/,  April  12  and  15,  1778. 

'  Mr.  John  Payne,  afterwards  chief  accountant  of  the  Bank,  one  of  the 
four  surviving  members  of  the  Ivy  Lane  Club  who  dined  together  in 
1783.     See  Hawkins's  Johnso7t,  pp.  220,  563  ;  and  post,  December  1783. 

'  See  post,  under  March  19,  1776. 

'  '  He  said,  "  I  am  sorry  I  have  not  learnt  to  play  at  cards.  It  is 
very  useful  in  life ;  it  generates  kindness  and  consolidates  society." ' 
Boswell's  Hebrides,  Nov.  21,  1773. 

*  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  3d  edit.  p.  48.  [Aug.  19.]  Bos- 
WELL. 

*  Johnson's  Works,  v.  435. 

M 


368  Dr.  Madden.  [a.d.  1756. 

As  one  of  the  little  occasional  advantages  which  he  did 
not  disdain  to  take  by  his  pen,  as  a  man  whose  profession 
was  literature,  he  this  year  accepted  of  a  guinea'  from  Mr. 
Robert  Dodsley,  for  writing  the  introduction  to  TJic  London 
Chronicle,  an  evening  news-paper  ;  and  even  in  so  slight  a 
performance  exhibited  peculiar  talents.  This  CJironicle  still 
subsists,  and  from  what  I  observed,  when  I  was  abroad,  has 
a  more  extensive  circulation  upon  the  Continent  than  any 
of  the  English  newspapers.  It  was  constantly  read  by  John- 
son himself^ ;  and  it  is  but  just  to  observe,  that  it  has  all 
along  been  distinguished  for  good  sense,  accuracy,  modera- 
tion, and  delicacy. 

Another  instance  of  the  same  nature  has  been  communi- 
cated to  me  by  the  Reverend  Dr.  Thomas  Campbell,  who 
has  done  himself  considerable  credit  by  his  own  writings\ 

'  Sitting  with  Dr.  Johnson  one  morning  alone,  he  asked  me  if  I 
had  known  Dr.  Madden,  who  was  authour  of  the  premium-scheme 
in  Ireland\  On  my  answering  in  the  affirmative,  and  also  that  I 
had  for  some  years  lived  in  his  neighbourhood,  &c.,  he  begged  of 
me  that  when  I  returned  to  Ireland,  I  would  endeavour  to  procure 
for  him  a  poem  of  Dr.  Madden's  called  Boulter's  Monument.  The 
reason  (said  he)  why  I  wish  for  it,  is  this  :  when  Dr.  Madden  came 
to  London,  he  submitted  that  work  to  my  castigation  ;  and  I  re- 
member I  blotted  a  great  many  lines,  and  might  have  blotted  many 
more,  without  making  the  poem  worse.  However,  the  Doctor  was 
very  thankful,  and  very  generous,  for  he  gave  me  ten  guineas,  whuh 
was  to  me  at  that  time  a  great  stmt'.'' 

'  He  was  paid  at  the  rate  of  a  little  over  twopence  a  line.  For  this 
Introduction  see  Works,  v.  206. 

^  See  post,  Oct.  26,  1769.  '  See  post,  April  5,  1775. 

*  In  1740  he  set  apart  the  yearly  sum  of  ^100  to  be  distributed,  by 
way  of  premium,  to  the  authors  of  the  best  inventions,  &c.,  in  Ireland. 
Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet. 

'  Boulter's  Monument.  A  Panegyrteal  Poem,  sacred  to  the  mem- 
ory of  that  great  and  excellent  prelate  and  patriot,  the  Most  Rri'er- 
end  Dr.  Hugh  Boulter ;  Late  Lord -Archbishop  of  Ardmagh,  and 
Primate  of  All  Irelatid.  Dublin,  1745.  Such  lines  as  the  follow- 
ing might  well  have  been  blotted,  but  of  them  the  poem  is  chiefly 
formed  1— 

He 


Aetat.  47.J  yoh^lSOU  S   SlIAk'SPEARE,  369 

He  this  year  resumed  his  scheme  of  giving  an  edition  of 
Shakspeare  with  notes'.  He  issued  Proposals  of  consider- 
able length\*  in  which  he  shewed  that  he  perfectly  well 
knew  what  a  variety  of  research  such  an  undertaking  re- 
quired ;  but  his  indolence  prevented  him  from  pursuing  it 
with  that  diligence  which  alone  can  collect  those  scattered 
facts  that  genius,  however  acute,  penetrating,  and  luminous, 
cannot  discover  by  its  own  force.  It  is  remarkable,  that  at 
this  time  his  fancied  activity  was  for  the  moment  so  vigor- 
ous, that  he  promised  his  work  should  be  published  before 
Christmas,  I757^  Yet  nine  years  elapsed  before  it  saw  the 
light'.     His  throes  in  bringing  it  forth  had  been  severe  and 

'  My  peaceful  song  in  lays  instructive  paints 
The  first  of  mitred  peers  and  Britain's  saints.'  p.  2. 

'  Ha !  mark !  what  gleam  is  that  which  paints  the  air  ? 
The  blue  serene  expands  !     Is  Boulter  there  Y  p.  88. 

The  poet  addresses  Boulter's  successor  Hoadley,  who  he  says, 
'  Shall  equal  him  ;  while,  like  Elisha,  you 
Enjoy  his  spirit,  and  his  mantle  too.'  p.  89. 

A  note  to  inajitlc  says  '  Alluding  to  the  metropolitan  pallium." 

Boulter  is  the  bishop  in  Pope's  lines,  (Prologue  to  the  Satires,  1. 99) : — 
'  Does  not  one  table  Bavius  still  admit .'' 
Still  to  one  bishop  Philips  seem  a  wit.'' 

Pattison's  Pope's  Satires,  p.  107. 
In  the  Life  of  Addison,  Johnson  mentioning  Dr.  Madden  adds  : — '  a 
name  which  Ireland  ought  to  honour.'     Johnson's  Works,  vii.  455. 

'  See  ante,  p.  202.  Hawkins  writes  {Life,  p.  363) : — '  I  congratulated 
him  on  his  being  now  engaged  in  a  work  that  suited  his  genius.  His 
answer  was: — "  I  look  upon  this  as  I  did  upon  the  Dietionary;  it  is 
all  work,  and  my  inducement  to  it  is  not  love  or  desire  of  fame,  but 
the  want  of  money,  which  is  the  only  motive  to  writing  that  I  know  of." ' 

*  They  have  been  reprinted  by  Mr.  Malone,  in  the  Preface  to  his 
edition  of  S/iakspeare.     BoswEl.i,. 

'  At  Christmas,  1757,  he  said  that  he  should  publish  about  March, 
1758  {post,  Dec.  24,  1757).  When  March  came  he  said  that  he  should 
publish  before  summer  {post,  March  i,  1758). 

*  In  what  Johnson  says  of  Pope's  slow  progress  in  translating  the 
Iliad,  he  had  very  likely  his  own  case  in  view.  '  Indolence,  interrup- 
tion, business,  and  pleasure  all  take  their  turns  of  retardation  ;  and 
every  long  work  is  lengthened  by  a  thousand  causes  that  can,  and  ten 
thousand  that  cannot  be  recouated.     Perhaps  no  extensive  and  multi- 

I. — 24  remittent : 


370  yohnson  refuses  a  country  living.     |a.d.  1756. 

remittent  ;  and  at  last  we  may  almost  conclude  that  the 
Caesarian  operation  was  performed  by  the  knife  of  Churchill, 
whose  upbraiding  satire,  I  dare  say,  made  Johnson's  friends 
urge  him  to  despatch'. 

'  He  for  subscribers  bates  his  hook, 
And  takes  your  cash ;  but  where's  the  book  ? 
No  matter  where ;  wise  fear,  you  know. 
Forbids  the  robbing  of  a  foe  ; 
But  what,  to  serve  our  private  ends. 
Forbids  the  cheating  of  our  friends"?' 

About  this  period  he  was  offered  a  living  of  considerable 
value  in  Lincolnshire,  if  he  were  inclined  to  enter  into  holy 
orders.  It  was  a  rectory  in  the  gift  of  Mr.  Langton,  the 
father  of  his  much  valued  friend.  But  he  did  not  accept  of 
it ;  partly  I  believe  from  a  conscientious  motive,  being  per- 
suaded that  his  temper  and  habits  rendered  him  unfit  for 

farious  performance  was  ever  effected  within  the  term  originally  fixed 
in  the  undertaker's  mind.  He  that  runs  against  time  has  an  antag- 
onist not  subject  to  casualties.'  Johnson's  Works,  \\\\.  255.  In  Prior's 
Goldsmith  (i.  238)  we  have  the  following  extracts  from  letters  written 
by  Dr.  Grainger  {post,  March  21.  1776)  to  Dr.  Percy:— 'June  27,  1758. 
I  have  several  times  called  on  Johnson  to  pay  him  part  of  your  sub- 
scription [for  his  edition  of  Shakespeare}.  I  say,  part,  because  he 
never  thinks  of  working  if  he  has  a  couple  of  guineas  in  his  pocket ; 
but  if  you  notwithstanding  order  me,  the  whole  shall  be  given  him  at 
once.'  '  July  20,  1758.  As  to  his  Shakespeare,  ntovet  sed  non  proinoz'ct. 
I  shall  feed  him  occasionally  with  guineas.' 

'  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  440)  says  that  '  Reynolds  and  some  other  of  his 
friends,  who  were  more  concerned  for  his  reputation  than  himself 
seemed  to  be,  contrived  to  entangle  him  by  a  wager,  or  some  other 
pecuniary  engagement,  to  perform  his  task  by  a  certain  time.'  Just 
as  Johnson  was  oppressed  by  the  engagement  that  he  had  made  to 
edit  Shakespeare,  so  was  Cowper  by  his  engagement  to  edit  Milion. 
'  The  consciousness  that  there  is  so  much  to  do  and  nothing  done  is  a 
burthen  I  am  not  able  to  bear.  Milton  especially  is  my  grievance,  and 
I  might  almost  as  well  be  haunted  by  his  ghost,  as  goaded  with  such 
continual  reproaches  for  neglecting  him.'     Southey's  Cowper,  v\\.  163. 

*  From  The  Ghost,  Bk.  iii,  1.  801.  Boswell  makes  two  slight  errors 
in  quoting :  '  Your  cash '  should  be  '  their  cash ;'  and  '  you  know ' 
should  be  '  we  know.' 

tnat 


Aetat.48.]        ^ohnsofi  s  love  of  Londo7t  life.  371 

that  assiduous  and  familiar  instruction  of  the  vulgar  and 
ignorant  which  he  held  to  be  an  essential  duty  in  a  clergy- 
man' ,  and  partly  because  his  love  of  a  London  life  was  so 
strong,  that  he  would  have  thought  himself  an  exile  in  any 
other  place,  particularly  if  residing  in  the  country^  Who- 
ever would  wish  to  see  his  thoughts  upon  that  subject  dis- 
played in  their  full  force,  may  peruse  The  Adventurer,  Num- 
ber 126'. 

1757:  ^TAT.  48.] — In  1757  it  does  not  appear  that  he 
published  any  thing,  except  some  of  those  articles  in  The 
Literary  Magazine,  which  have  been  mentioned.  That 
magazine,  after  Johnson  ceased  to  write  in  it,  gradually  de- 
clined, though  the  popular  epithet  oi  Antigallicayi^  was  added 
to  it;  and  in  July  1758  it  expired.  He  probably  prepared 
a  part  of  his  Shakspeare  this  year,  and  he  dictated  a  speech 
on  the  subject  of  an  Address  to  the  Throne,  after  the  ex- 
pedition to  Rochfort,  which  was  delivered  by  one  of  his 
friends,  I  know  not  in  what  publick  meeting^     It  is  printed 

'  Seeposi,A^r\\  17,  1778. 

'  Mrs.  Thrale  writing  to  him  in  1777,  says: — 'You  would  rather  be 
sick  in  London  than  well  in  the  country.'  Piozzi  Letters,  i.  394.  Yet 
Johnson,  when  he  could  afford  to  travel,  spent  far  more  time  in  the 
country  than  is  commonly  thought.  Moreover  a  great  part  of  each 
summer  from  1766  to  1782  inclusive  he  spent  at  Streatham. 
"'  The  motto  to  this  number 

— '  Steriles  nee  legit  arenas, 
Ut  caneret  paucis,  mersitque  hoc  pulvere  verum.' 

(Lucan). 
Johnson  has  thus  translated  : — 

'  Canst  thou  believe  the  vast  eternal  mind 
Was  e'er  to  Syrts  and  Libyan  sands  confin'd .'' 
That  he  would  choose  this  waste,  this  barren  ground, 
To  teach  the  thin  inhabitants  around, 
And  leave  his  truth  in  wilds  and  deserts  drown'd  ?' 

*  It  was  added  to  the  January  number  of  1758,  but  it  was  dropped 
in  the  following  numbers. 

*  According  to  the  note  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  the  speech  was  delivered 
•  at  a  certain  respectable  talking  society.'  The  chairman  of  the  meet- 
ing is  addressed  as  Mr.  President.  The  speech  is  vigorously  written 
and  is,  I  have  no  doubt,  by  Johnson.    '  It  is  fit,'  the  speaker  says, '  that 

in 


372  IrisJi  literature.  [a. d.  1757. 

in   The  Gentleman  s  Magazine  for  October  1785  as  his,  and 
bears  sufficient  marks  of  authenticity. 

By  the  favour  of  Mr.  Joseph  Cooper  Walker,  of  the  Treas- 
ury, DubHn,  I  have  obtained  a  copy  of  the  following  letter 
from  Johnson  to  the  venerable  authour  of  Dissertations  on 
the  History  of  Ireland. 

'To  Charles  O'Connor,  Esq'. 
'  Sir, 

'  I   have  lately,  by  the  favour  of  Mr.  Faulkner",  seen  your 

account  of  Ireland,  and  cannot   forbear  to   solicit   a  prosecution 

of   your    design.      Sir   William    I'emple    complains    that    Ireland 

is  less  known  than  any  other  country,  as  to  its   ancient  state  \ 

The  natives  have  had  little  leisure,  and  little  encouragement  for 

enquiry ;  and  strangers,  not  knowing  the  language,  have  had  no 

ability. 

'  I  have  long  wished  that  the  Irish  literature  were  cultivated^. 

Ireland  is  known  by  tradition  to  have  been  once  the  seat  of  piety 

and  learning*;  and  surely  it  would  be  very  acceptable  to  all  those 


those  whom  for  the  future  we  shall  employ  and  pay  may  know  they 
are  the  servants  of  a  people  that  expect  duty  for  t/irtr  niotuy.  It  is 
said  an  address  expresses  some  distrust  of  the  king,  or  may  tend  to 
disturb  his  quiet.  An  English  king.  Mr.  President,  has  no  great  right 
to  quiet  when  his  people  are  in  misery.' 

'  See  post.  May  19,  1777. 

"  See  post,  March  21,  1772. 

'  '  I  have  often  observed  with  wonder,  that  we  should  know  less 
of  Ireland  than  any  other  country  in  Europe."  Temple's  IVorks, 
iii.  82. 

*  The  celebrated  oratour.  Mr.  Flood,  has  shewn  himself  to  be  of  Dr. 
Johnson's  opinion  ;  having  by  his  will  bequeathed  his  estate,  after  the 
death  of  his  wife  Lady  Frances,  to  the  University  of  Dublin  ;  '  desir- 
ing that  immediately  after  the  said  estate  shall  come  into  their  pos- 
session, they  shall  appoint  two  professors,  one  for  the  study  of  the 
native  Erse  or  Irish  language,  and  the  other  for  the  study  of  Irish 
antiquities  and  Irish  history,  and  for  the  study  of  any  other  European 
language  illustrative  of,  or  auxiliary  to,  the  study  of  Irish  antiquities 
or  Irish  history  ;  and  that  they  shall  giv^e  yearly  two  liberal  premiums 
for  two  compositions,  one  in  verse,  and  the  other  in  prose,  in  the  Irish 
language.'     Bosw^ell. 

*  Dr.  T.  Campbell  records  in  his  Diary  of  a  Visit  to  England  (p.  62), 

who 


Aetat.  48.]  The  affinities  of  language.  373 

who  are  curious  either  in  the  original  of  nations,  or  the  affinities 
of  languages,  to  be  further  informed  of  the  revolution  of  a  people 
so  ancient,  and  once  so  illustrious. 

'  What  relation  there  is  between  the  Welch  and  Irish  language, 
or  between  the  language  of  Ireland  and  that  of  Biscay,  deserves 
enquiry.  Of  these  provincial  and  unextended  tongues,  it  seldom 
happens  that  more  than  one  are  understood  by  any  one  man ;  and, 
therefore,  it  seldom  happens  that  a  fair  comparison  can  be  made. 
I  hope  you  will  continue  to  cultivate  this  kind  of  learning,  which 
has  too  long  lain  neglected,  and  which,  if  it  be  suffered  to  remain 
in  oblivion  for  another  century,  may,  perhaps,  never  be  retrieved. 
As  I  wish  well  to  all  useful  undertakings,  I  would  not  forbear  to 
let  you  know  how  much  you  deserve  in  my  opinion,  from  all  lovers 
of  study,  and  how  much  pleasure  your  work  has  given  to.  Sir, 

'  Your  most  obliged, 

'  And  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

'  London,  April  9,  1757.' 

'To  THE  Reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Warton. 

'  Dear  Sir, 

'  Dr.  Marsili'  of  Padua,  a  learned  gentleman,  and  good  Latin 
poet,  has  a  mind  to  see  Oxford.  1  have  given  him  a  letter  to  Dr. 
Huddesford',  and  shall  be  glad  if  you  will  introduce  him,  and  shew 
him  any  thing  in  Oxford. 

'  I  am  printing  my  new  edition  of  Shakspeare. 

'  I  long  to  see  you  all,  but  cannot  conveniently  come  yet.  You 
might  write  to  me  now  and  then,  if  you  were  good  for  any  thing. 


that  at  the  dinner  at  Messieurs  Dilly's  {post,  April  5,  1775)  he  'ven- 
tured to  say  that  the  first  professors  of  Oxford,  Paris,  &c.,  were  Irish. 
"Sir,"  says  Johnson,  "I  believe  there  is  something  in  what  you  say, 
and  I  am  content  with  it,  since  they  are  not  Scotch."  ' 

'  On  Mr.  Thrale's  attack  of  apoplexy  in  1779,  Johnson  wrote  to 
Mrs.  Thrale: — 'I  remember  Dr.  Marsigli,  an  Italian  physician,  whose 
seizure  was  more  violent  than  Mr.  Thrale's,  for  he  fell  down  help- 
less, but  his  case  was  not  considered  as  of  much  danger,  and  he 
went  safe  home,  and  is  now  a  professor  at  Padua.'  Piozsi  Letto's, 
ii.  48. 

'  'Now,  or  late, Vice-Chancellor.'  Warton. — Boswell.  He  was 
Vice-Chancellor  when  Johnson's  degree  was  conferred  {ante,  p.  327), 
but  his  term  of  office  had  now  come  to  an  end. 

But 


174       Subscribers  to  yohnsons  Shakspeare.  [a. d.  1757. 


But  honores  mutant  mores.     Professors  forget  their  friends'.    I  shall 
certainly  complain  to  Miss  Jones^     I  am, 

'  Your,  &c. 

'Sam.  Johnsok.' 
'[London,]  June  21,  1757.' 

'  Please  to  make  my  compliments  to  Mr.  Wise.' 

Mr.  Burney  having  enclosed  to  him  an  extract  from  the 
review  of  his  Dictionary  in  the  Bibliotheqiic  dcs  Savans^,  and 
a  list  of  subscribers  to  his  Shakspeare,  which  Mr.  Burney  had 
procured  in  Norfolk,  he  wrote  the  following  answer : 

'To  Mr.  Burney,  in  Lynne,  Norfolk. 
'Sir, 

'  That  1  may  shew  myself  sensible  of  your  favours,  and  not 
commit  the  same  fault  a  second  time,  I  make  haste  to  answer  the 
letter  which  I  received  this  morning.  The  truth  is,  the  other  like- 
wise was  received,  and  I  wrote  an  answer ;  but  being  desirous  to 
transmit  you  some  proposals  and  receipts,  1  waited  till  1  could  tind 
a  convenient  conveyance,  and  day  was  passed  after  day,  till  other 
things  drove  it  from  my  thoughts  ;  yet  not  so,  but  that  I  remember 
with  great  pleasure  your  commendation  of  my  Dictionary.  Your 
praise  was  welcome,  not  only  because  1  believe  it  was  sincere,  but 
because  praise  has  been  very  scarce.  A  man  of  your  candour  will 
be  surprised  when  I  tell  you,  that  among  all  my  acquaintance  there 
were  only  two,  who  upon  the  publication  of  my  book  did  not  en- 
deavour to  depress  me  with  threats  of  censure  from  the  publick,  or 
with  objections  learned  from  those  who  had  learned  them  from 
my  own  Preface.     Your's  is  the  only  letter  of  goodwill  that  I  have 

'  '  Mr.  Warton  was  elected  Professor  of  Poetry  at  Oxford  in  the  pre- 
ceding year.'    Warton. — Boswell. 

'  '  Miss  Jones  lived  at  Oxford,  and  was  often  of  our  parties.  She 
was  a  very  ingenious  poetess,  and  published  a  volume  of  poems ;  and, 
on  the  whole,  was  a  most  sensible,  agreeable,  and  amiable  woman. 
She  was  a  sister  to  the  Reverend  River  Jones,  Chanter  of  Christ 
Church  Cathedral  at  Oxford,  and  Johnson  used  to  call  her  the  Chant- 
ress.  I  have  heard  him  often  address  her  in  this  passage  from  Jl 
Penseroso  : 

"  Thee,  Chantress,  oft  the  woods  among 
I  woo,"  etc. 
She  died  unmarried.'    Warton. 
3  Tom.  iii.  p.  482.     Boswell. 

received : 


Aetat.48.]  The  danger  of  delay.  375 

received ;  though,  indeed,  I  am  promised  something  of  that  sort 
from  Sweden. 

'  How  my  new  edition'  will  be  received  I  know  not ;  the  sub- 
scription has  not  been  very  successful.  I  shall  publish  about 
March. 

'  If  you  can  direct  me  how  to  send  proposals,  I  should  wish  that 
they  were  in  such  hands. 

'I  remember,  Sir,  in  some  of  the  first  letters  with  which  you 
favoured  me,  you  mentioned  your  lady.  May  I  enquire  after  her .'' 
In  return  for  the  favours  which  you  have  shewn  me,  it  is  not  much 
to  tell  you,  that  I  wish  you  and  her  all  that  can  conduce  to  your 
happiness.  I  am,  Sir, 

'  Your  most  obliged, 

'  And  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

'  Gough-square,  Dec.  24,  1757.' 

In  1758  we  find  him,  it  should  seem,  in  as  easy  and 
pleasant  a  state  of  existence,  as  constitutional  unhappiness 
ever  permitted  him  to  enjoy. 

'To  BeNNET  LaNGTON,  Esq.,  at  LaNGTON,  LINCOLNSHIRE^ 

'  Dearest  Sir, 

'  I  must  indeed  have  slept  very  fast,  not  to  have  been  awakened 
by  your  letter.  None  of  your  suspicions  are  true  ;  I  am  not  much 
richer  than  when  you  left  me;  and,  what  is  worse,  my  omission  of 
an  answer  to  your  first  letter,  will  prove  that  I  am  not  much  wiser. 
But  I  go  on  as  I  formerly  did,  designing  to  be  some  time  or  other 
both  rich  and  wise ;  and  yet  cultivate  neither  mind  nor  fortune. 
Do  you  take  notice  of  my  example,  and  learn  the  danger  of  delay. 
When  I  was  as  you  are  now,  towering  in  the  confidence  of  twenty- 
one,  little  did  I  suspect  that  I  should  be  at  forty-nine,  what  I  now 
am. 

'  But  you  do  not  seem  to  need  my  admonition.  You  are  busy 
in  acquiring  and  in  communicating  knowledge,  and  while  you  are 

*  Of  Shakspeare.     BoswELL. 

'  This  letter  is  misdated.  It  was  written  in  Jan.  1759,  and  not  in 
1758.  Johnson  says  that  he  is  forty-nine.  In  Jan.  1758  he  was  forty- 
eight.  He  mentions  the  performance  of  Clcone,  which  was  at  the  end 
of  1758;  and  he  says  that  'Murphy  is  to  hav^e  his  Orphan  of  China 
acted  next  month.'     It  was  acted  in  the  spring  of  1759. 

studying, 


376  Dodshys  Clroxr.  [a.d.  1758. 

studying,  enjoy  the  end  of  study,  by  making  others  wiser  and  hap- 
pier. I  was  much  pleased  with  the  tale  that  you  told  me  of  being 
tutour  to  your  sisters.  I,  who  have  no  sisters  nor  brothers,  look 
with  some  degree  of  innocent  envy  on  those  who  may  be  said  to 
be  born  to  friends ;  and  cannot  see,  without  wonder,  how  rarely 
that  native  union  is  afterwards  regarded.  It  sometimes,  indeed, 
happens,  that  some  supervenient  cause  of  cUscord  may  overpower 
this  original  amity ;  but  it  seems  to  me  more  frequently  thrown 
away  with  levity,  or  lost  by  negligence,  than  destroyed  by  injury  or 
violence.  We  tell  the  ladies  that  good  wives  make  good  husbands  , 
I  believe  it  is  a  more  certain  position  that  good  brothers  make 
good  sisters. 

'I  am  satisfied  with  your  stay  at  home,  as  Juvenal  with  his 
friend's  retirement  to  Cumae  :  1  know  that  your  absence  is  best, 
though  it  be  not  best  for  me. 

'  Quamvis  digressu  veteris  confiisus  amid, 
Laudo  tamen  vacuis  quod  sedcm  figere  Cumis 
Destinet,  atqiu  iinum  civem  donare  Sibyii(e\' 

'  Langton  is  a  good  Cumae,  but  who  must  be  Sibylla  ?  Mrs. 
Langton  is  as  wise  as  Sibyl,  and  as  good :  and  will  live,  if  my 
wishes  can  prolong  life,  till  she  shall  in  time  be  as  old.  But  she 
differs  in  this,  that  she  has  not  scattered  her  precepts  in  the  wind, 
at  least  not  those  which  she  bestoAved  upon  you. 

'  The  two  Wartons  just  looked  into  the  town,  and  were  taken  to 
see  Ckone,  where,  David"*  says,  they  were  starved  for  want  of  com- 
pany to  keep  them  warm.     David  and  Doddy'  have  had  a  new 

'  Juvnial,  Sat.  iii.  i. 

'  Though  grief  and  fondness  in  my  breast  rebel, 
When  injured  Thales  bids  the  town  farewell, 
Yet  still  my  calmer  thoughts  his  choice  commend, 
I  praise  the  hermit,  but  regret  the  friend  ; 
Resolved  at  length  from  vice  and  London  far 
To  breathe  in  distant  fields  a  purer  air, 
And  fixed  on  Cambria's  solitary  shore 
Give  to  St.  David  one  true  Briton  more.' 

Johnson's  London,  1.  i. 
*  Mr.  Garrick.     Boswell. 

'  Mr.  Dodsley.  the  Authour  of  Clconc.  Boswell.  Garrick,  accord- 
ing to  Davies,  had  rejected  Dodsley 's  Cleone,  '  and  had  termed  it  a 
cruel,  bloody,  and  unnatural  play.'  Davies 's  Garrick,  \.  223.  Johnson 
himself  said  of  it :— '  I  am  afraid  there  is  more  blood  than  brains." 

quarrel, 


Aetat.49.]  Dodsley  s  C LEONE.  377 

quarrel,  and,  I  think,  cannot  conveniently  quarrel  any  more.  Cleont 
was  well  acted  by  all  the  characters,  but  Bellamy'  left  nothing  to 

Post,  1780,  in  Mr.  Langton's  Collection.  The  night  it  was  brought  out 
at  Covent  Garden,  Garrick  appeared  for  the  tirst  time  as  Marplot  in 
the  Busy  Body  at  Drury  Lane.  The  next  morning  he  wrote  to  con- 
gratulate Dodsley  on  his  success,  and  asked  him  at  the  same  time  to 
let  him  know  how  he  could  support  his  interest  without  absolutely 
giving  up  his  own.  To  this  Dodsley  returned  a  cold  reply.  Garrick 
wrote  back  as  follows  : — 

'  Master  Robert  Dodsley, 

'  When  I  first  read  your  peevish  answer  to  my  well-meant  proposal 
to  you,  I  was  much  disturbed  at  it— but  when  I  considered,  that  some 
minds  cannot  bear  the  smallest  portion  of  success,  I  most  sincerely 
pitied  you ;  and  when  I  found  in  the  same  letter,  that  you  were  gracious- 
ly pleased  to  dismiss  me  from  your  acquaintance,  I  could  not  but  con- 
fess so  apparent  an  obligation,  and  am  with  due  acknowledgements, 
'  Master  Robert  Dodsley, 

'  Your  most  obliged 

'  David  Garrick.' 
Garrick  Carres.  \.  80  (where  the  letters  that  passed  are  wrongly  dated 
1757).  Mrs.  Bellamy  in  her  Life  (iii.  109)  says  that  on  the  evening  of 
the  performance  she  was  provoked  by  something  that  Dodsley  said, 
'which,'  she  continues,  '  made  me  answer  that  good  man  with  a  petu- 
lance which  afterwards  gave  me  uneasiness.  I  told  him  that  I  had  a 
reputation  to  lose  as  an  actress ;  but,  as  for  his  piece,  Mr.  Garrick  had 
anticipated  the  damnation  of  it  publicly,  the  preceding  evening,  at  the 
Bedford  Coffee-house,  where  he  had  declared  that  it  could  not  pass 
muster,  as  it  was  the  very  worst  piece  ever  exhibited.'  Shenstone 
(  Works,  iii.  288)  writing  five  weeks  after  the  play  was  brought  out, 
says : — '  Dodsley  is  now  going  to  print  his  fourth  edition.  He  sold 
2000  of  his  first  edition  the  very  first  day  he  published  it.'  The  price 
was  eighteen-pence. 

'  Mrs.  Bellamy  {Life,  iii.  108)  says  that  Johnson  was  present  at  the 
last  rehearsal.  '  When  I  came  to  repeat,  "  Thou  shalt  not  murder," 
Dr.  Johnson  caught  me  by  the  arm,  and  that  somewhat  too  briskly, 
saying,  at  the  same  time,  "  It  is  a  commandment,  and  must  be  spoken. 
Thou  shalt  7iot  murder."  As  I  had  not  then  the  honour  of  knowing 
personally  that  great  genius,  I  was  not  a  little  displeased  at  his  inforc- 
ing  his  instructions  with  so  much  vehemence.'  The  next  night  she 
heard,  she  says,  amidst  the  general  applause,  'the  same  voice  which 
had  instructed  me  in  the  commandment,  exclaim  aloud  from  the  pit, 
"  I  will  write  a  copy  of  verses  upon  her  myself,"  I  knew  that  my  suc- 
cess was  insured,"    See  post,  May  11, 1783, 

be 


37^  Reynolds  s  prices  for  portraits.       [a.d.  itgh. 

be  desired.  I  went  the  first  night,  and  supported  it,  as  well  as  I 
might ;  for  Doddy,  you  know,  is  my  patron',  and  I  would  not  de- 
sert him.  The  play  was  very  well  received.  Doddy,  after  the 
danger  was  over,  went  every  night  to  the  stage-side,  and  cried  at 
the  distress  of  poor  Cleone'. 

'  I  have  left  off  housekeeping^  and  therefore  made  presents  of 
the  game  which  you  were  pleased  to  send  me.  The  pheasant  I 
gave  to  Mr.  Richardson*,  the  bustard  to  Dr.  Lawrence,  and  the  pot 
I  placed  with  Miss  Williams,  to  be  eaten  by  myself.  She  desires 
that  her  compliments  and  good  wishes  may  be  accepted  by  the 
family ;  and  I  make  the  same  request  for  myself. 

'  Mr.  Reynolds  has  within  these  few  days  raised  his  price  to 
twenty  guineas  a  head',  and  Miss  is  much  employed  in  miniatures*. 
I  know  not  any  body  [else]  whose  prosperity  has  encreased  since 
you  left  them. 

'  Murphy  is  to  have  his  Orphan  of  China  acted  next  month  ;  and 
is  therefore,  I  suppose,  happy'.     I  wish  I  could  tell  you  of  any 

'  Dodsley  had  published  his  London  and  his  Vanity  of  Human 
Wishes  {ante,  pp.  144,  223,  224,  note),  and  had  had  a  large  share  in  the 
Dictionary,  {ante,  p.  211). 

*  It  is  to  this  that  Churchill  refers  in  the  following  lines  : — 

'Let  them  [the  Muses]  with  Glover  o'er  Medea  doze; 
Let  them  with  Dodsley  wail  Cleone's  woes, 
Whilst  he,  fine  feeling  creature,  all  in  tears, 
Melts  as  they  melt,  and  weeps  with  weeping  Peers.* 

The  yourney.     Poems,  ii.  328. 

*  See  post,  p.  405,  note  3 

*  Mr.  Samuel  Richardson,  authour  of  Clarissa.     Boswell. 

*  In  1753  when  in  Devonshire  he  charged  five  guineas  a  head  (Tay- 
lor's Reynolds,  i.  89) ;  shortly  afterwards,  when  he  removed  to  London, 
twelve  guineas  {ib.  p.  loi)  ;  in  1764.  thirty  guineas  ;  for  a  whole  length 
150  guineas  {ib.  p.  224).  Northcote  writes  that  'he  sometimes  has 
lamented  the  being  interrupted  in  his  work  by  idle  visitors,  saying, 
"those  persons  do  not  consider  that  my  time  is  worth  to  me  five 
guineas  an  hour."  '     Northcote's  Reynolds,  i.  83. 

*  '  Miss  Reynolds  at  first  amused  herself  by  painting  miniature  por- 
traits, and  in  that  part  of  the  art  was  particularly  successful.  In  her 
attempts  at  oil-painting,  however,  she  did  not  succeed,  which  made 
Reynolds  say  jestingly,  that  her  pictures  in  that  way  made  other 
people  laugh  and  him  cry ;  and  as  he  did  not  approve  of  her  painting 
m  oil,  she  generally  did  it  by  stealth.'     Ib.  ii.  160. 

'  Murphy  was  far  from  happy.     The  play  was  not  produced  till 

ereat 


Aetat.  49.]       Johnso^i  s  Shakspeare  delayed.  379 


great  good  to  which  I  was  approaching,  but  at  present  my  pros- 
pects do  not  much  delight  me  ;  however,  I  am  always  pleased  when 
I  find  that  you,  dear  Sir,  remember, 

'  Your  affectionate,  humble  servant, 

'  Sam,  Johnson.' 
•Jan.  9. 1758.' 

'To  Mr.  Burney,  at  Lynne,  Norfolk. 

'Sir, 

'  Your  kindness  is  so  great,  and  my  claim  to  any  particular 
regard  from  you  so  little,  that  I  am  at  a  loss  how  to  express  my 
sense  of  your  favours' ;  but  I  am,  indeed,  much  pleased  to  be  thus 
distinguished  by  you. 

'  I  am  ashamed  to  tell  you  that  my  Shakspeare  will  not  be  out  so 
soon  as  I  promised  my  subscribers ;  but  I  did  not  promise  them 
more  than  1  promised  myself.  It  will,  however,  be  published  be- 
fore summer. 

'  I  have  sent  you  a  bundle  of  proposalc,  which,  I  think,  do  not 
profess  more  than  I  have  hitherto  performed.  I  have  printed 
many  of  the  plays,  and  have  hitherto  left  very  few  passages  unex- 
plained ;  where  I  am  quite  at  a  loss,  I  confess  my  ignorance,  which 
is  seldom  done  by  commentators'. 

'  I  have,  likewise,  enclosed  twelve  receipts ;  not  that  I  mean  to 
impose  upon  you  the  trouble  of  pushing  them,  with  more  impor- 
tunity than  may  seem  proper,  but  that  you  may  rather  have  more 
than  fewer  than  you  shall  want.  The  proposals  you  will  dissemi- 
nate as  there  shall  be  an  opportunity.  I  once  printed  them  at 
length  in  the  Chronicle,  and  some  of  my  friends  (I  believe  Mr. 
Murphy,  who  formerly  wrote  the  Grays-Inn  yournal)  introduced 
them  with  a  splendid  encomium. 

'  Since  the  Life  of  Browne,  I  have  been  a  little  engaged,  from 
time  to  time,  in  the  Literary  Magazine,  but  not  very  lately.    I  have 


April ;  by  the  date  of  Johnson's  letter,  he  had  not  by  any  means 
reached  the  end  of  what  he  calls  '  the  first,  and  indeed,  the  last,  dis- 
agreeable controversy  that  he  ever  had  with  Mr.  Garrick.'  Murphy's 
Garrick,  p.  213. 

'  This  letter  was  an  answer  to  one  in  which  was  enclosed  a  draft  for 
the  payment  of  some  subscriptions  to  his  Shakspeare.     Boswell. 

'  In  the  Preface  he  says  : — {Works,  v.  152)  'I  have  not  passed  over 
with  affected  superiority  what  is  equally  difficult  to  the  reader  and  to 
myself,  but  where  I  could  not  instruct  him,  have  owned  my  ignorance.' 

not 


38o  The  garret  m   Gougk-sguare.  [ad.  1758. 

not  the  collection  by  me,  and  therefore  cannot  draw  out  a  catalogue 
of  my  own  parts,  but  will  do  it,  and  send  it.  Do  not  buy  them,^  for 
I  will  gather  all  those  that  have  anything  of  mine  in  them,  and 
send  them  to  Mrs.  Burney,  as  a  small  token  of  gratitude  for  the 
regard  which  she  is  pleased  to  bestow  upon  me. 

'  I  am,  Sir, 
'  Your  most  obliged 

'  And  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'  London,  March  8,  1758.' 

Dr.  Burney  has  kindly  favoured  me  with  the  following 
memorandum,  which  I  take  the  liberty  to  insert  in  his  own 
genuine  easy  style.  I  love  to  exhibit  sketches  of  my  illus- 
trious friend  by  various  eminent  hands. 

'  Soon  after  this,  Mr.  Burney,  during  a  visit  to  the  capital,  had 
an  interview  with  him  in  Gough-square,  where  he  dined  and  drank 
tea  with  him,  and  was  introduced  to  the  acquaintance  of  Mrs. 
Williams.  After  dinner,  Mr.  Johnson  proposed  to  Mr.  Burney  to 
go  up  with  him  into  his  garret,  which  being  accepted,  he  there 
found  about  five  or  six  Greek  folios,  a  deal  writing-desk,  and  a 
chair  and  a  half.  Johnson  giving  to  his  guest  the  entire  seat,  tot- 
tered himself  on  one  with  only  three  legs  and  one  arm'.     Here  he 


'  Northcote  gives  the  following  account  of  this  same  garret  in  de- 
scribing how  Reynolds  introduced  Roubiliac  to  Johnson.  'Johnson 
received  him  with  much  civility,  and  took  them  up  into  a  garret, 
which  he  considered  as  his  library ;  where,  besides  his  books,  all 
covered  with  dust,  there  was  an  old  crazy  deal  table,  and  a  still  worse 
and  older  elbow  chair,  having  only  three  legs.  In  this  chair  Johnson 
seated  himself,  after  having,  with  considerable  dexterity  and  evident 
practice,  first  drawn  it  up  against  the  wall,  which  served  to  support  it 
on  that  side  on  which  the  leg  was  deficient.'  Northcote's  Reynolds,  i. 
75.  Miss  Reynolds  improves  on  the  account.  She  says  that  'before 
Johnson  had  the  pension  he  literally  dressed  like  a  beggar;  and,  from 
what  I  have  been  told,  he  as  literally  lived  as  such  ;  at  least  as  to  com- 
mon conveniences  in  his  apartments,  wanting  even  a  chair  to  sit  on, 
particularly  in  his  study,  where  a  gentleman  who  frequently  visited 
him,  whilst  writing  his  Idlers,  constantly  found  him  at  his  desk,  sitting 
on  one  with  three  legs;  and  on  rising  from  it,  he  remarked .  that  Dr. 
Johnson  never  forgot  its  defect,  but  would  either  hold  it  in  his  hand, 
or  place  it  with  great  composure  against  some  support,  taking  no 

gave 


Aetat.4»."j  Theobald  and  Warbiirton.  381 

gave  Mr.  Bumey  Mrs.  Williams's  history,  and  shewed  hiin  some 
volumes  of  his  Shakspeare  already  printed,  to  prove  that  he  was  in 
earnest.  Upon  Mr.  Burney's  opening  the  first  volume,  at  the  Mer- 
chant of  Vefiice,  he  observed  to  him,  that  he  seemed  to  be  more 
severe  on  Warburton  than  Theobald.  "O  poor  Tib.  !  (said  John- 
son) he  was  ready  knocked  down  to  my  hands ;  Warburton  stands 
between  me  and  him."  "But,  Sir,  (said  Mr.  Burney,)  you'll  have 
Warburton  upon  your  bones,  won't  you?"  "No,  Sir;  he'll  not 
come  out :  he'll  only  growl  in  his  den."  "  But  you  think.  Sir,  that 
Warburton  is  a  superiour  critick  to  Theobald  ?"  "  O,  Sir,  he'd 
make  two-and-fifty  Theobalds,  cut  into  slices' !  The  worst  of  War- 
burton is,  that  he  has  a  rage  for  sapng  something,  when  there's 
nothing  to  be  said."  Mr.  Burney  then  asked  him  whether  he  had 
seen  the  letter  which  Warburton  had  written  in  answer  to  a  pam- 
phlet addressed  "■  To  the  most  impudent  Man  alive'."  He  answered 
in  the  negative.  Mr.  Burney  told  him  it  was  supposed  to  be  writ- 
ten by  Mallet.     The  controversy  now  raged  between  the  friends 

notice  of  its  imperfection  to  his  visitor.  It  was  remarkable  in  John- 
son, that  no  external  circumstances  ever  prompted  him  to  make  any 
apology,  or  to  seem  even  sensible  of  their  existence.'  Croker's  Bos- 
iiiell,  p.  832.  There  can  be  little  question  that  she  is  describing  the 
same  room — a  room  in  a  house  in  which  Miss  Williams  was  lodged, 
and  most  likely  Mr.  Levet,  and  in  which  Mr.  Burney  dined ;  and  in 
which  certainly  there  must  have  been  chairs.  Yet  Mr.  Carlyle,  misled 
by  her  account,  says : — '  In  his  apartments,  at  one  time,  there  were 
unfortunately  no  chairs.'     Carlyle's  Miscel/anu's,  ed.  1872,  iv.  127. 

*  In  his  Lz/e  of  Pope  {Works,  v'm.  272)  Johnson  calls  Theobald  'a 
man  of  heavy  diligence,  with  very  slender  powers.'  In  the  Preface  to 
Shakspeare  he  admits  that  '  what  little  he  did  was  commonly  right.' 
Ib.v.  137.  The  Editors  of  the  Cambridge  Shakespeare  on  the  other 
hand  say ; — '  Theobald,  as  an  Editor,  is  incomparably  superior  to  his 
predecessors,  and  to  his  immediate  successor  Warburton,  although  the 
latter  had  the  advantage  of  working  on  his  materials.  Many  most 
brilliant  emendations  are  due  to  him.'  On  Johnson's  statement  that 
•  Warburton  would  make  two-and-fifty  Theobalds,  cut  into  slices,'  they 
write  : — '  From  this  judgment,  whether  they  be  compared  as  critics  or 
editors,  we  emphatically  dissent.'  Cambridge  Shakespeare,  i.,  xxxi., 
xxxiv.,  note.  Among  Theobald's  '  brilliant  emendations  '  are  '  a'  bab- 
bled of  green  fields  '  (Hejiry  V,  ii.  3),  and  '  lackeying  the  varying  tide.' 
{Ant07iy  and  Cleopatra,  i.  4). 

*  '  A  fajftiliar  epistle  [by  Lord  Bolingbroke]  to  the  tnost  impudent 
man  liviftg,  1749.'     Brit.  Mus.  Catal. 

of 


382  The  Idler.  [a.d.1758, 

of  Pope  and  Bolingbroke ;  and  Warburton  and  Mallet  were  the 
leaders  of  the  several  parties'.  Mr.  Bumey  asked  him  then  if  he 
had  seen  Warburton's  book  against  Bolingbroke's  Philosophy^  t 
"  No,  Sir,  I  have  never  read  Bolingbroke's  impiety,  and  therefore 
am  not  interested  about  its  confutation."  ' 

On  the  fifteenth  of  April  he  began  a  new  periodical  paper, 
entitled  TIic  Idler^,"^  which  came  out  every  Saturday  in  a 
weekly  new^s-paper,  called  The  Universal  Chronicle,  or  Week- 
ly Gazette,  published  by  Newbery*.  These  essays  were  con- 
tinued till  April  5,  1760.  Of  one  hundred  and  three,  their 
total  number,  twelve  were  contributed  by  his  friends  ;  of 
which.  Numbers  33,  93,  and  96,  were  written  by  Mr.  Thomas 
Warton  ;  No,  67  by  Mr.  Langton  ;  and  Nos.  76,  79,  and  82, 

*  '  Mallet,  by  address  or  accident,  perhaps  by  his  dependence  on  the 
prince  [of  Wales],  found  his  way  to  Bolingbroke,  a  man  whose  pride 
and  petulance  made  his  kindness  difficult  to  gain  or  keep,  and  whom 
Mallet  was  content  to  court  by  an  act,  which,  I  hope,  was  unwillingly 
performed.  When  it  was  found  that  Pope  had  clandestinely  printed 
an  unauthorised  number  of  the  pamphlet  called  The  Patriot  King, 
Bolingbroke,  in  a  fit  of  useless  fury,  resolved  to  blast  his  memory,  and 
employed  Mallet  (1749)  as  the  executioner  of  his  vengeance.  Mallet 
had  not  virtue,  or  had  not  spirit,  to  refuse  the  office  ;  and  was  rewarded 
not  long  after  with  the  legacy  of  Lord  Bolingbroke's  works.'  John- 
son's Works,  viii.  467.     See  ante,  p.  31 1,  and  Walpole's  Letters,  ii.  159. 

*  A  View  of  Lord  Bolingbroke' s  Philosophy  in  Four  L^etters  to  a 
Friend,  1754-5. 

*  A  paper  under  this  name  had  been  started  seven  years  earlier.  See 
Carter  and  Talbot  Corres.  ii.  33. 

*  In  the  two  years  in  which  Johnson  wrote  for  this  paper  it  saw 
many  changes.  The  first  Idler  appeared  in  No.  2  of  the  Universal 
Chronicle  or  Weekly  Gazette,  which  was  published  not  by  Newbery, 
but  by  J.  Payne.  On  April  29,  this  paper  took  the  title  of  Payne's 
Universal  Chronicle,  etc.  On  Jan.  6,  1759,  it  resumed  the  old  title  and 
was  published  by  R.  Stevens.  On  Jan.  5,  1760,  the  title  was  changed 
to  The  Universal  Chronicle  and  Westfninster  yournal,  and  it  was  pub- 
lished by  W.  Faden  and  R.  Stevens.  On  March  15,  1760,  it  was  pub- 
lished by  R.  Stevens  alone.  The  paper  consisted  of  eight  pages.  The 
Idler,  which  varied  in  length,  came  first,  and  was  printed  in  larger 
characters,  much  like  a  leading  article.  The  changes  in  title  and 
ownership  seem  to  show  that  in  spite  of  Johnson's  contributions  it 
was  not  a  successful  publication. 

b> 


Aetat.49.]  TjJE    IdlER.  383 

by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds;  the  concluding  words  of  No.  82, 
'  and  pollute  his  canvas  with  deformity,'  being  added  by 
Johnson,  as  Sir  Joshua  informed  me'. 

77^1?  Idler  is  evidently  the  work  of  the  same  mind  which 
produced  The  Rambler,  but  has  less  body  and  more  spirit. 
It  has  more  variety  of  real  life,  and  greater  facility  of  lan- 
guage. He  describes  the  miseries  of  idleness,  with  the  live- 
ly sensations  of  one  who  has  felt  them' ;  and  in  his  private 
memorandums  while  engaged  in  it,  we  find  '  This  year  I 
hope  to  learn  diligence'.'  Many  of  these  excellent  essays 
were  written  as  hastily  as  an  ordinary  letter.  Mr.  Langton 
remembers  Johnson,  when  on  a  visit  at  Oxford*,  asking  him 
one  evening  how  long  it  was  till  the  post  went  out  ;  and  on 
being  told  about  half  an  hour,  he  exclaimed,  *  then  we  shall 
do  very  well.'  He  upon  this  instantly  sat  down  and  finished 
an  Idler,  which  it  was  necessary  should  be  in  London  the 
next  day.  Mr.  Langton  having  signified  a  wish  to  read  it, 
'  Sir,  (said  he)  you  shall  not  do  more  than  I  have  done  my- 
self.'    He  then  folded  it  up  and  sent  it  off. 

Yet  there  are  in  The  Idler  several  papers  which  shew  ai. 
much  profundity  of  thought,  and  labour  of  language,  as  any 
of  this  great  man's  writings.  No.  14,  'Robbery  of  Time;' 
No.  24,  'Thinking;'  No.  41,  'Death  of  a  Friend':'  No.  43, 

'  '  Those  papers  may  be  considered  as  a  kind  of  sj'llabus  of  all  Rey^ 
nolds's  future  discourses,  and  certainly  occasioned  him  some  thinking 
in  their  composition.  I  have  heard  him  say,  that  Johnson  required 
them  from  him  on  a  sudden  emergency,  and  on  that  account,  he  sat 
up  the  whole  night  to  complete  them  in  time;  and  by  it  he  was  so 
much  disordered,  that  it  produced  a  vertigo  in  his  head.'  Northcote's 
Reynolds,  i.  89.  Reynolds  must  have  spoken  of  only  one  paper  ;  as  the 
three,  appearing  as  they  did  on  Sept.  29,  Oct.  20,  and  Nov.  10.  could 
not  have  been  required  at  one  time. 

'  '  To  be  idle  and  to  be  poor  have  always  been  reproaches,  and  there- 
fore every  man  endeavours  with  his  utmost  care  to  hide  his  poverty 
from  others,  and  his  idleness  from  himself.'      The  Idler,  No.  17. 

'  Prayers  and  Meditations,  p.  30  [36].     BOSWELL. 

*  In  July  1759. 

*  This  number  was  published  a  few  days  after  his  mother's  death. 
It  is  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  which  is  thus  introduced  : — '  The  follow- 

'  Flieht 


384  Influence  of  the  weather.  [a.d.  1758. 

'Flight  of  Time;'  No.  51,  '  Domestick  greatness  unattain- 
able ;'  No.  52,  '  Self-denial ;'  No.  58,  '  Actual,  how  short  of 
fancied,  excellence' ;'  No.  89,  '  Physical  evil  moral  good^ ;' 
and  his  concluding  paper  on  '  The  horrour  of  the  last' ;'  will 
prove  this  assertion.  T  know  not  why  a  motto,  the  usual 
trapping  of  periodical  papers,  is  prefixed  to  very  few  of  the 
Idlers,  as  I  have  heard  Johnson  commend  the  custom  :  and 
he  never  could  be  at  a  loss  for  one,  his  memory  being  stored 
with  innumerable  passages  of  the  classicks\  In  this  series 
of  essays  he  exhibits  admirable  instances  of  grave  humour, 
of  which  he  had  an  uncommon  share.  Nor  on  some  oc- 
casions has  he  repressed  that  power  of  sophistry  which  he 
possessed  in  so  eminent  a  degree.  In  No.  11,  he  treats 
with  the  utmost  contempt  the  opinion  that  our  mental 
faculties  depend,  in  some  degree,  upon  the  weather ;  an 
opinion,  which  they  who  have  never  experienced  its  truth 

ing  letter  relates  to  an  affliction  perhaps  not  necessary  to  be  imparted 
to  the  publick ;  but  I  could  not  p>ersuade  myself  to  suppress  it,  be- 
cause I  think  I  know  the  sentiments  to  be  sincere,  and  I  feel  no  dis- 
position to  provide  for  this  day  any  other  entertainment.' 

'  In  the  table  of  contents  the  title  of  No.  58  is,  '  Expectations  of 
pleasure  frustrated.'  In  the  original  edition  of  The  Idler  no  titles  are 
given.  In  this  paper  he  shews  that  '  nothing  is  more  hopeless  than  a 
scheme  of  merriment.' 

^  In  this  paper  he  begins  by  considering,  '  why  the  only  thinking 
being  of  this  globe  is  doomed  to  think  merely  to  be  wretched,  and  to 
pass  his  time  from  youth  to  age  in  fearing  or  in  suffering  calamities.' 
He  ends  by  asserting  that  '  of  what  virtue  there  is,  misery  produces 
far  the  greater  part." 

'  'There  are  few  things,'  he  writes,  'not  purely  evil,  of  which  we 
can  say,  without  some  emotion  of  uneasiness,  this  is  the  last.  .  .  .  The 
secret  horrour  of  the  last  is  inseparable  from  a  thinking  being,  whose 
life  is  limited,  and  to  whom  death  is  dreadful." 

*  '  I  asked  him  one  day,  why  the  Idlers  were  published  without  mot- 
toes. He  replied,  that  it  was  forborne  the  better  to  conceal  himself, 
and  escape  discovery.  "  But  let  us  think  of  some  now,"  said  he,  "  for 
the  next  edition.  We  can  fit  the  two  volumes  in  two  hours,  can't  we  ?" 
Accordingly  he  recollected,  and  I  wrote  down  these  following  [nine 
mottoes],  till  some  friend  coming  in,  in  about  five  minutes,  put  an  end 
to  our  further  progress  on  the  subject.'     Pioszi  Letters,  ii.  388. 

are 


Aetat.49.]  Influence  of  the  weather.  385 

are  not  to  be  envied,  antl  of  whicli  he  himself  could  not  but 
be  sensible,  as  the  effects  of  weather  upon  him  were  ver)' 
visible.     Yet  thus  he  declaims  : — 

'  Surely,  nothing  is  more  reproachful  to  a  being  endowed  with 
reason,  than  to  resign  its  powers  to  the  influence  of  the  air,  and 
live  in  dependence  on  the  weather  and  the  wind  for  the  only  bless- 
ings which  nature  has  put  into  our  power,  tranquillity  and  benevo- 
lence. This  distinction  of  seasons  is  produced  only  by  imagination 
operating  on  luxury.  To  temperance,  every  day  is  bright ;  and 
every  hour  is  propitious  to  diligence.  He  that  shall  resolutely 
excite  his  faculties,  or  exert  his  virtues,  will  soon  make  himself 
superiour  to  the  seasons  ;  and  may  set  at  defiance  the  morning 
mist  and  the  evening  damp,  the  blasts  of  the  east,  and  the  clouds 
of  the  south'." 


'  See /t'j/',  July  14  and  26,  1763,  April  14,  1775,  and  Aug.  2,  1784,  note, 
for  instances  in  which  Johnson  ridicules  the  notion  that  weather  and 
seasons  have  any  necessary  effect  on  man  ;  also  April  17,  1778.  In  the 
IJfe  of  MiIto)i  (  Works,  vii.  102),  he  writes  : — '  This  dependence  of  the 
soul  upon  the  seasons,  those  temporary  and  periodical  ebbs  and  flows 
of  intellect,  may,  I  suppose,  ju.stly  be  derided  as  the  fumes  of  vain  im- 
agination. Sapiens  dominabiho-  astris.  The  author  that  thinks  him- 
self weather-bound  will  find,  with  a  little  help  from  hellebore,  that  he 
is  only  idle  or  exhausted.  But  while  this  notion  has  possession  of 
the  head,  it  produces  the  inability  which  it  supposes.  Our  powers 
owe  much  of  their  energy  to  our  hopes ;  possunt  quia  posse  videntur.' 
Boswell  records,  in  his  Hebrides  (Aug.  16,  1773),  that  when  'somebody 
talked  of  happy  moments  for  composition,'  Johnson  said  : — *  Nay,  a 
man  may  write  at  any  time,  if  he  will  set  himself  doggedly  to  it.'  Rey- 
nolds, who  avowed  how  much  he  had  learnt  from  Johnson  {ante,  p. 
284),  says  much  the  same  in  his  Seventh  Discourse:  'But  when,  in 
plain  prose,  we  gravely  talk  of  courting  the  Muse  in  shady  bowers ; 
waiting  the  call  and  inspiration  of  Genius  ...  of  attending  to  times 
and  seasons  when  the  imagination  shoots  with  the  greatest  vigour, 
whether  at  the  summer  solstice  or  the  vernal  equinox  .  .  .  when  we 
talk  such  language  or  entertain  such  sentiments  as  these,  we  generally 
rest  contented  with  mere  words,  or  at  best  entertain  notions  not  only 
groundless  but  pernicious.'  Reynolds's  Works,  i.  1 50.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  1773  Johnson  recorded  : — '  Between  Easter  and  Whitsuntide, 
having  always  considered  that  time  as  propitious  to  study,  I  attempted 
to  learn  the  Low-Dutch  language.'  Post,  under  May  9,  1773.  J"  The 
Rambler,  No.  80,  he  says ; — '  To  the  men  of  study  and  imagination  the 
I.— 2;  Alas! 


386  The  attendant  on  a  Court.  [a.d.  1758. 

Alas !  it  is  too  certain,  that  where  the  frame  has  delicate 
fibres,  and  there  is  a  fine  sensibility,  such  influences  of  the 
air  are  irresistible.  He  might  as  well  have  bid  defiance  to 
the  ague,  the  palsy,  and  all  other  bodily  disorders.  Such 
boasting  of  the  mind  is  false  elevation. 

'  I  think  the  Romans  call  it  Stoicism'.' 

But  in  this  number  of  his  Idler  his  spirits  seem  to  run  riot ; 
for  in  the  wantonness  of  his  disquisition  he  forgets,  for  a 
moment,  even  the  reverence  for  that  which  he  held  in  high 
respect'^ ;  and  describes  '  the  attendant  on  a  Court,'  as  one 
'  whose  business  is  to  watch  the  looks  of  a  being,  weak  and 
foolish  as  himself'.' 


winter  is  generally  the  chief  time  of  labour.  Gloom  and  silence  pro- 
duce composure  of  mind  and  concentration  of  ideas.'  In  a  letter  to 
Mrs.  Thrale,  written  in  1775,  he  says  :—' Most  men  have  their  bright 
and  their  cloudy  days,  at  least  they  have  days  when  they  put  their 
powers  into  act,  and  days  when  they  suffer  them  to  repose.'  Piozzi 
Letters,  i.  265.  In  1781  he  wrote : — '  I  thought  myself  above  assistance 
or  obstruction  from  the  seasons ;  but  find  the  autumnal  blast  sharp 
and  nipping,  and  the  fading  world  an  uncomfortable  prospect.'  lb.  ii. 
220.  Again,  in  the  last  year  of  his  life  he  wrote  : — '  The  weather,  you 
know,  has  not  been  balmy.  I  am  now  reduced  to  think,  and  am  at 
least  content  to  talk,  of  the  weather.  Pride  must  have  a  fall.'  Post, 
Aug.  2,  1784. 

'  Addison's  Cato,  act  i.  sc.  4. 

*  Johnson,  reviewing  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough's  attack  on  Queen 
Mary,  says  {Works, v'x.  8) : — 'This  is  a  character  so  different  from  all 
those  that  have  been  hitherto  given  of  this  celebrated  princess,  that 
the  reader  stands  in  suspen.se,  till  he  considers  that  .  .  .  it  has  hitherto 
had  this  great  advantage,  that  it  has  only  been  compared  with  those 
of  kings.' 

^  Johnson  had  explained  how  it  comes  to  pass  that  Englishmen  talk 
so  commonly  of  the  weather.  He  continues : — '  Such  is  the  reason  of 
our  practice ;  and  who  shall  treat  it  with  contempt  ?  Surely  not  the 
attendant  on  a  court,  whose  business  is  to  watch  the  looks  of  a  being 
weak  and  foolish  as  himself,  and  whose  vanity  is  to  recount  the  names 
of  men,  who  might  drop  into  nothing,  and  leave  no  vacuity.  .  .  .  The 
weather  is  a  nobler  and  more  interesting  subject ;  it  is  the  present 
state  of  the  skies  and  of  the  earth,  on  which  plenty  and  famine  are 

His 


Aetat.  49.J  Johnson  not  a  plagiary.  387 

His  unqualified  ridicule  of  rhetorical  gesture  or  action  is 
not.  surely,  a  test  of  truth  ;  yet  we  cannot  help  admiring 
how  well  it  is  adapted  to  produce  the  effect  which  he 
wished.  '  Neither  the  judges  of  our  laws,  nor  the  represen- 
tatives of  our  people,  would  be  much  affected  by  laboured 
gesticulation,  or  believe  any  man  the  more  because  he  rolled 
his  eyes,  or  puffed  his  cheeks,  or  spread  abroad  his  arms, 
or  stamped  the  ground,  or  thumped  his  breast ;  or  turned 
his  eyes  sometimes  to  the  ceiling,  and  sometimes  to  the 
floor'.' 

A  casual  coincidence  with  other  writers,  or  an  adoption  of 
a  sentiment  or  image  w'hich  has  been  found  in  the  writings 
of  another,  and  afterwards  appears  in  the  mind  as  one's  own, 
is  not  unfrequent.  The  richness  of  Johnson's  fancy,  which 
could  supply  his  page  abundantly  on  all  occasions,  and  the 
strength  of  his  memory,  which  at  once  detected  the  real 
owner  of  any  thought,  made  him  less  liable  to  the  imputa- 
tion of  plagiarism  than,  perhaps,  any  of  our  writers'.  In 
T/ic  Idler,  however,  there  is  a  paper^  in  which  conversation 
is  assimilated  to  a  bowl  of  punch,  where  there  is  the  same 
train  of  comparison  as  in  a  poem  by  Rlacklock,  in  his  collec- 
tion published  in  I756\  in  which  a  parallel  is  ingeniously 
drawn  between  human  life  and  that  liquor.     It  ends, — 


suspended,  on  which  millions  depend  ior  the  necessaries  of  life.' 
'  Garrick  complained  that  when  he  went  to  read  before  the  court,  not 
a  look  or  a  murmur  testified  approbation  ;  there  was  a  profound  still- 
ness— every  one  only  watched  to  see  what  the  king  thought.'  Hazlitt's 
Con7'ersations  of  Northcote,  p.  262. 

'  The  Idler,  No.  90.  See  post,  April  3,  1773,  where  he  declaims 
against  action  in  public  speaking. 

"  He  now  and  then  repeats  himself.  Thus,  in  The  Idler,  No.  37,  he 
noralises  on  the  story,  how  Socrates,  passing  through  the  fair  at 
Athens,  cried  out:  —  'How  many  things  are  here  which  I  do  not 
need  !'  though  he  had  already  moralised  on  it  in  The  Adventurer,  Nos. 
67,  119. 

'  No.  34- 

*  P cents  on  Several  Occasions,  by  Thomas  Blacklock,  p.  179.  See 
f>osf.  Aug.  %,.  T763.  and  Boswell's  Hebrides.  Aug.  17,  1773. 

'  Say, 


388  Profits  on  th€  Idler.  [a.d.  1758. 

*  Say,  then,  physicians  of  each  kind, 
Who  cure  the  body  or  the  mind. 
What  harm  in  drinking  can  there  be, 
Since  punch  and  life  so  well  agree  ?' 

To  The  Idler,  \\\\Q\\  collected  in  volumes',  he  added,  beside 
the  '  Essay  on  Epitaphs '  and  the  '  Dissertation  on  those  of 
Pope^'  an  Essay  on  the  '  Bravery  of  the  English  common 
Soldiers.'  He,  however,  omitted  one  of  the  original  papers, 
which  in  the  folio  copy  is  No.  22'. 


'  'Among  the  papers  of  Newbery,  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Murray, 
is  the  account  rendered  on  the  collection  of  T/ie  Idler  into  two  small 
volumes,  when  the  arrangement  seems  to  have  been  that  Johnson 
should  receive  two-thirds  of  the  profits. 

T/ie  Idler. 

'  Dr.  £    s.  d.  •  Cr.  £    s.  d. 

Paid  for  Advertising,    .     20    o     6    1,500  Sets  at  16/.  per  100  240    o    o 

Printing  two  vols.,  1.500    41    13     o    Dr.  Johnson  two-thirds     84     2     4 

P^P^*" 52    3    o    Mr.  Newbery  one-third     42     i     2 

£''l  '6    6  ^,26    3    6 

Profit  on  the  edition  .   .126     3    6 

^240    o    o 

Forster's  Goldsmith,  i.  204. 
If  this  account  is  correctly  printed,  the  sale  must  have  been  slow. 
The  first  edition  (2  vols.  5.$-.)  was  published  in  Oct.  1761,  {Gent.  Alag. 
xx.xi.  479).  Johnson  is  called  Dr.  in  the  account ;  but  he  was  not 
made  an  LL.D.  till  July  1765.  Prior,  in  his  Ltje  of  GoldsDiith  (i.  459), 
publishes  an  account  between  Goldsmith  and  Newbery  in  which  the 
first  entry  is  : — 

'  1 761.     Oct.  14,  I  set  of 

The  Idler ^o     5     o.' 

Johnson,  as  Newbery 's  papers  show,  a  year  later  bought  a  copy  of 
Goldsmith's  Life  of  Nash  ;  ih.  p.  405. 

'  See  ante,  p.  355. 

^  This  paper  may  be  found  in  Stockdale's  supplemental  volume  of 
Johnson's  Miscellaneous  Pieces.  Boswell.  Stockdale's  supplemental 
volumes — for  there  are  two^ — are  vols.  xii.  and  xiii.  of  what  is  known 
as  '  Hawkins's  edition.'  In  this  paper  ( Works,  iv.  450)  he  represents 
in  a  fable  two  vultures  speculating  on  that  mischievous  being,  man, 
'  who  is  the  only  beast  who  kills  that  which  he  does  not  devour,'  who 
at  times  is  seen  to  move  in  herds,  while  '  there  is  in  every  herd  one 

'To 


Aetat.49.]      Letters  to  Mr.  Thomas  War  ton.  389 

To  THE  Reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Warton. 

'  Dear  Sir, 

'Your  notes  upon  my  poet  were  very  acceptable.  I  beg  that 
you  will  be  so  kind  as  to  continue  your  searches.  It  will  be  repu- 
table to  my  work  and  suitable  to  your  professorship,  to  have  some- 
thing of  yours  in  the  notes.  As  you  have  given  no  directions  about 
your  name,  I  shall  therefore  put  it.  1  wish  your  brother  would  take 
the  same  trouble.  A  commentary  must  arise  from  the  fortuitous 
discoveries  of  many  men  in  devious  walks  of  literature.  Some  of 
your  remarks  are  on  plays  already  printed  :  but  I  purpose  to  add 
an  Appendix  of  Notes,  so  that  nothing  comes  too  late. 

'  You  give  yourself  too  much  uneasiness,  dear  Sir,  about  the  loss 
of  the  papers'.  The  loss  is  nothing,  if  nobody  has  found  them  ; 
nor  even  then,  perhaps,  if  the  numbers  be  known.  You  are  not  the 
only  friend  that  has  had  the  same  mischance.  You  may  repair 
your  want  out  of  a  stock,  which  is  deposited  with  Mr.  Allen,  of 
Magdalen-Hall ;  or  out  of  a  parcel  which  I  have  just  sent  to  Mr. 
Chambers"  for  the  use  of  any  body  that  will  be  so  kind  as  to  want 
them.  Mr.  Langtons  are  well  ;  and  Miss  Roberts'',  whom  I  have 
at  last  brought  to  speak,  upon  the  information  which  you  gave  me, 
that  she  had  something  to  say. 

'  I  am,  &c. 

•[London]  April  14,  1758.'  'Sam.  Johnson.' 

'To  the  Same. 

'Dear  Sir, 

'You  will  receive  this  by  Mr.  Baretti,  a  gentleman  particularly 
intitled  to  the  notice  and  kindness  of  the  Professor  of  poesy.  He 
has  time  but  for  a  short  stay,  and  will  be  glad  to  have  it  filled  up 
with  as  much  as  he  can  hear  and  see. 

'  In  recommending  another  to  your  favour,  I  ought  not  to  omit 
thanks  for  the  kindness  which  you  have  shewn  to  myself.  Have 
you  any  more  notes  on  Shakspeare  ?     I  shall  be  glad  of  them. 

'  I  see  your  pupil  sometimes' :  his  mind  is  as  exalted  as  his 

that  gives  directions  to  the  rest,  and  seems  to  be  more  eminently  de- 
lighted with  a  wide  carnage." 

'  '  Receipts  for  Shakespeare.'     Warton.— Boswell. 

'  '  Then  of  Lincoln  College.  Now  Sir  Robert  Chambers,  one  of  the 
Judges  in  India.'    Warton. — Boswell. 

•  Old  Mr.  Langton's  niece.     S&c  post,  July  14,  1763. 

*  '  Mr.  Langton.'    Warton. — Boswell. 

stature. 


390       Experience  compared  with  expectation,  [a.d.  1758. 

stature'.  I  am  half  afraid  of  him ;  but  he  is  no  less  amiable  than 
formidable.  He  will,  if  the  forwardness  of  his  spring  be  not 
blasted,  be  a  credit  to  you,  and  to  the  University.  He  brings  some 
of  my  plays^  with  him,  which  he  has  my  permission  to  shew  you, 
on  condition  you  will  hide  them  from  every  body  else. 

'  I  am,  dear  Sir,  &c. 
'  [London.]  June  i,  1758;  '  Sam.  Johnson.' 

'To  Bennet  Langton,  Esq.,  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford. 

'  Dear  Sir, 

'  Though  I  might  have  expected  to  hear  from  you,  upon  your 
entrance  into  a  new  state  of  life  at  a  new  place,  yet  recollecting, 
(not  without  some  degree  of  shame,)  that  I  owe  you  a  letter  upon 
an  old  account,  I  think  it  my  part  to  write  first.  This,  indeed,  I  do 
not  only  from  complaisance  but  from  interest ;  for  living  on  in  the 
old  way,  I  am  very  glad  of  a  correspondent  so  capable  as  yourself, 
to  diversify  the  hours.  You  have,  at  present,  too  many  novelties 
about  you  to  need  any  help  from  me  to  drive  along  your  time. 

'  I  know  not  any  thing  more  pleasant,  or  more  instructive,  than 
to  compare  experience  with  expectation,  or  to  register  from  time  to 
time  the  difference  between  idea  and  reality.  It  is  by  this  kind 
of  observation  that  we  grow  daily  less  liable  to  be  disappointed\ 


'  Boswell  records : — '  Lady  Di  Beauclerk  told  me  that  Langton  had 
never  been  to  see  her  since  she  came  to  Richmond,  his  head  was  so 
full  of  the  militia  and  Greek.  "Why,"  said  \,  "  Madam,  he  is  of  such 
a  length,  he  is  awkward  and  not  easily  moved."  "  But,"  said  she,  "  if 
he  had  laid  himself  at  his  length,  his  feet  had  been  in  London,  and 
his  head  might  have  been  here  eodetn  die."  '     Bostuelltana,  p.  297. 

'  '  Part  of  the  impression  of  the  Shakespeare,  which  Dr.  Johnson 
conducted  alone,  and  published  by  subscription.  This  edition  came 
out  in  1765.'    Warton. — Boswell. 

'  Stockdale  records  {Memoirs,  ii.  191),  that  after  he  had  entered  on 
his  charge  as  domestic  tutor  to  Lord  Craven's  son,  he  called  on  John- 
son, who  asked  him  how  he  liked  his  place.  On  his  hesitating  to  an- 
swer, he  said  : — '  "  You  must  expect  insolence."  He  added  that  in  his 
youth  he  had  entertained  great  expectations  from  a  powerful  family. 
"At  length,"  he  said,  "  I  found  that  their  promises,  and  consequently 
my  expectations,  vanished  into  air.  .  .  .  But,  Sir,  they  would  have 
treated  me  much  worse,  if  they  had  known  that  the  motives  from 
which  I  paid  my  court  to  them  were  purely  selfish,  and  what  opinion 
I  had  formed  of  them."     He  added,  that  since  he  knew  mankind,  he 

You, 


Aetat.  49.]  An  academical  life.  391 

You,  who  are  very  capable  of  anticipating:  futurity,  and  raising 
phantoms  before  your  own  eyes,  must  often  have  imagined  to  your- 
self an  academical  life,  and  have  conceived  what  would  be  the 
manners,  the  views,  and  the  conversation,  of  men  devoted  to  let- 
ters ;  how  they  would  choose  their  companions,  how  they  would 
direct  their  studies,  and  how  they  would  regulate  their  lives;  Let 
me  know  what  you  expected,  and  what  you  have  found.  At  least 
record  it  to  yourself  before  custom  has  reconciled  you  to  the  scenes 
before  you,  and  the  disparity  of  your  discoveries  to  your  hopes  has 
vanished  from  your  mind.  It  is  a  rule  never  to  be  forgotten,  that 
whatever  strikes  strongly,  should  be  described  while  the  hrst  im- 
pression remains  fresh  upon  the  mind. 

'  I  love,  dear  Sir,  to  think  on  you,  and  therefore,  should  willingly 
write  more  to  you,  but  that  the  post  will  not  now  give  me  leave  to 
do  more  than  send  my  compliments  to  Mr.  Warton,  and  tell  you 
that  1  am,  dear  Sir,  most  affectionately, 

'  Vour  very  humble  servant, 

•June  28. 1757';  ' ^^^i-  Johnson.' 

'To  Bennet  LANoroN,  Esq.,  at  Langton,  near  Spilsby, 
Lincolnshire, 
'Dear  Sir, 

'  I  should  be  sorry  to  think  that  what  engrosses  the  attention 
of  my  friend,  should  have  no  part  of  mine.  \our  mind  is  now  full 
of  the  fate  of  Uury";  but  his  fate  is  past,  and  nothing  remains  but 


had  not,  on  any  occasion,  been  the  sport  of  such  delusion;  and  that 
he  had  never  been  disappointed  by  anybody  but  himself.' 

'  This,  and  some  of  the  other  letters  to  Langton,  were  not  received 
bv  Boswell  till  the  first  volume  of  the  second  edition  had  been  carried 
through  the  press.  He  gave  them  as  a  supplement  to  the  second 
\olume.  The  date  of  this  letter  was  there  wrongly  given  as  June  27, 
1758.  In  the  third  edition  it  was  corrected.  Nevertheless  the  letter 
was  misplaced  as  if  the  wrong  date  were  the  right  one.  Langton,  as 
I  have  shewn  {ante,  p.  286),  subscribed  the  articles  at  Oxford  on  July 
7,  1757.  He  must  have  come  into  residence,  as  Johnson  did  {ante, 
p.  67),  some  little  while  before  this  subscription. 

''  Major- General  Alexander  Dury,  of  the  first  regiment  of  foot- 
guards,  who  fell  in  the  gallant  discharge  of  his  duty,  near  St.  Cas, 
in  the  well-known  unfortunate  expedition  against  France,  in  1758. 
His  lady  and  Mr.  Lungton's  mother  were  sisters.  He  left  an  only  son, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Pury,  who  has  a  company  in  the  same  regiment. 

to 


392  A  violent  death.  [a.d.  1759. 

to  try  what  reflection  will  suggest  to  mitigate  the  terrours  of  a  vio- 
lent death,  which  is  more  formidable  at  the  first  glance,  than  on  a 
nearer  and  more  steady  view.  A  violent  death  is  never  very  pain 
ful ;  the  only  danger  is  lest  it  should  be  unprovided.  But  if  a  man 
can  be  supposed  to  make  no  provision  for  death  in  war,  what  can 
be  the  state  that  would  have  awakened  him  to  the  care  of  futurity  ? 
When  would  that  man  have  prepared  himself  to  die,  who  went  to 
seek  death  without  preparation  ?  What  then  can  be  the  reason 
why  we  lament  more  him  that  dies  of  a  wound,  than  him  that  dies 
of  a  fever  ?  A  man  that  languishes  with  disease,  ends  his  life  with 
more  pain,  but  with  less  virtue  ;  he  leaves  no  example  to  his 
friends,  nor  bequeaths  any  honour  to  his  descendants.  The  only 
reason  why  we  lament  a  soldier's  death,  is,  that  we  think  he  might 
have  lived  longer  ;  yet  this  cause  of  grief  is  common  to  many  other 
kinds  of  death  which  are  not  so  passionately  bewailed.  The  truth 
is,  that  every  death  is  violent  which  is  the  effect  of  accident ;  every 
death,  which  is  not  gradually  brought  on  by  the  miseries  of  age,  or 
when  life  is  extinguished  for  any  other  reason  than  that  it  is  burnt 
out.  He  that  dies  before  sixty,  of  a  cold  or  consumption,  dies,  in 
reality,  by  a  violent  death ;  yet  his  death  is  borne  with  patience 
only  because  the  cause  of  his  untimely  end  is  silent  and  invisi- 
ble. Let  us  endeavour  to  see  things  as  they  are,  and  then  enquire 
whether  we  ought  to  complain.  Whether  to  see  life  as  it  is,  will 
give  us  much  consolation,  I  know  not  •,  but  the  consolation  which  is 
drawn  from  truth,  if  any  there  be,  is  solid  and  durable  ;  that  which 
may  be  derived  from  errour  must  be,  like  its  original,  fallacious  and 
fugitive.     1  am,  dear,  dear  Sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'Sept  21,  1758.' 

1759:  .^TAT.  50.] — In  1759,  in  the  month  of  January,  his 
mother  died  at  the  great  age  of  ninety,  an  event  which 
deeply  affected  him' ;  not  that  '  his  mind  had  acquired  no 
firmness  by  the  contemplation  of  mortality^ ;  but  that  his 

BOSWELL.  The  expedition  had  been  sent  against  St.  Malo  early  in 
September.  Failing  in  the  attempt,  the  land  forces  retreated  to  St. 
Cas,  where,  while  embarking,  they  were  attacked  by  the  French. 
About  400  of  our  soldiers  were  made  prisoners,  and  600  killed  and 
wounded.     An7i.  Reg.  i.  68. 

'  St&post,  1770,  in  Dr.  Maxwell's  Collectanea. 

'  Hawkijis's  Lt/e  of  Johnson,  p.  365.    BoswELL,    '  In  the  beginning 

reverential 


Aetat.50.]       The  death  of  yohnsons  mother.  393 

reverential  affection  for  her  was  not  abated  by  years,  as  in- 
deed he  retained  all  his  tender  feelings  even  to  the  latest 
period  of  his  life".  I  have  been  told  that  he  regretted  much 
his  not  having  gone  to  visit  his  mother  for  several  years, 
previous  to  her  death\      But  he  was  constantly  engaged  in 

of  the  year  1759  an  event  happened  for  which  it  might  be  imagined 
he  was  well  prepared,  the  death  of  his  mother,  who  had  attained  the 
age  of  ninety;  but  he,  whose  mind  had  acquired  no  firmness  by  the 
contemplation  of  mortality,  was  as  little  able  to  sustain  the  shock,  as 
he  would  have  been  had  this  loss  befallen  him  in  his  nonage.' 

'  We  may  apply  to  Johnson  in  his  behaviour  to  his  mother  what  he 
said  of  Pope  in  his  behaviour  to  his  parents :—' Whatever  was  his 
pride,  to  them  he  was  obedient ;  and  whatever  was  his  irritability,  to 
them  he  was  gentle.  Life  has  among  its  soothing  and  quiet  comforts 
few  things  better  to  give  than  such  a  son.'  Johnson's  Works,  viii.  281. 
In  The  Idler  of  January  27,  1759  (No.  41),  Johnson  shews  his  grief  for 
his  loss.  '  The  last  year,  the  last  day  must  come.  It  has  come,  and 
is  past.  The  life  which  made  my  own  life  pleasant  is  at  an  end,  and 
the  gates  of  death  are  shut  upon  my  prospects.  .  .  .  Such  is  the  con- 
dition of  our  present  existence  that  life  must  one  time  lose  its  asso- 
ciations, and  every  inhabitant  of  the  earth  must  walk  downward  to 
the  grave  alone  and  unregarded,  without  any  partner  of  his  joy  or 
grief,  without  any  interested  witness  of  his  misfortunes  or  success. 
Misfortune,  indeed,  he  may  yet  feel ;  for  where  is  the  bottom  of  the 
misery  of  man  ?  But  what  is  success  to  him  that  has  none  to  enjoy 
it.''  Happiness  is  not  found  in  self  -  contemplation ;  it  is  perceived 
only  when  it  is  reflected  from  another.'  In  Rasselas  (ch.  xlv.)  he 
makes  a  sage  say  with  a  sigh ; — '  Praise  is  to  an  old  man  an  empty 
sound.  I  have  neither  mother  to  be  delighted  with  the  reputation 
of  her  son,  nor  wife  to  partake  the  honours  of  her  husband.'  He  here 
says  once  more  what  he  had  already  said  in  his  Letter  to  Lord  Chester- 
field {ante,  p.  303),  and  in  the  Preface  to  the  Dictionary  (ante,  p.  344). 

*  Writing  to  his  Birmingham  friend,  Mr.  Hector,  on  Oct.  7,  1756,  he 
said : — '  I  have  been  thinking  every  month  of  coming  down  into  the 
country,  but  every  month  has  brought  its  hinderances.  From  that 
kind  of  melancholy  indisposition  which  I  had  when  we  lived  together 
at  Birmingham  I  have  never  been  free,  but  have  always  had  it  oper- 
ating against  my  health  and  my  life  with  more  or  less  violence.  I 
hope  however  to  see  all  my  friends,  all  that  are  remaining,  in  no  very 
long  time.'  Azotes  and  Queries,  6th  S.  iii.  301.  No  doubt  his  constant 
poverty  and  the  need  that  he  was  under  of  making  '  provision  for  the 
day  that  was  passing  over  him '  had  had  much  to  do  in  keeping  him 

literar}- 


394  Rasselas.  \\.t>.  1759 

literary  labours  which  confined  him  to  London  ;  and  though 
he  had  not  the  comfort  of  seeing  his  aged  parent,  he  con- 
tributed liberally  to  her  support'. 

Soon  after  this  event,  he  wrote  his  Rasse/as^,  Prince  of 
Abyssinia ;*  concerning  the  publication  of  which  Sir  John 

from  a  journey  to  Lichfield.  A  passage  in  one  of  his  letters  shews 
that  fourteen  years  later  the  stage-coach  took  twenty-six  hours  in 
going  from  London  to  Lichfield.  {Pio2zi  Letters,  i.  55.)  The  return 
journey  was  very  uncertain;  for  'our  carriages,'  he  wrote,  'are  only 
such  as  pass  through  the  place  sometimes  full  and  sometimes  vacant.' 
A  traveller  had  to  watch  for  a  place  {ib.  p.  51).  As  measured  by  time 
London  was,  in  1772.  one  hour  farther  from  Lichfield  than  it  now  is 
from  Marseilles.  It  is  strange,  when  we  consider  the  long  separation 
between  Johnson  and  his  mother,  that  in  Rasselas,  written  just  after 
her  death,  he  makes  Imlac  say  : — '  There  is  such  communication  [in 
Europe]  between  distant  places,  that  one  friend  can  hardly  be  said  to 
be  absent  from  another.'  Rasselas,  chap.  xi.  His  step-daughter.  Miss 
Porter,  though  for  many  years  she  was  well  off^,  had  never  been  to 
London.  Post,  March  23,  1776.  Nay,  according  to  Horace  Walpole 
{Memoirs  of  the  Rezgn  of  George  III,  iv.  327),  '  George  HL  had  never 
seen  the  sea,  nor  ever  been  thirty  miles  from  London  at  the  age  of 
thirty-four.' 

'  For  the  letters  written  at  this  time  by  Johnson  to  his  mother  and 
Miss  Porter,  see  Appendix  B. 

■^  Rasselas  was  published  in  two  volumes,  duodecimo,  and  was  sold 
for  five  shillings.  It  was  reviewed  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  April,  and 
was  no  doubt  published  in  that  month.  In  a  letter  to  Miss  Porter 
dated  March  23,  1759  (See  Appendi.x),  Johnson  says : — '  I  am  going  to 
publish  a  little  story-book,  which  I  will  send  you  when  it  is  out.'  I 
may  here  remark  that  the  Gent.  Mag.  was  published  at  the  end  of  the 
month,  or  even  later.  Thus  the  number  for  April  1759,  contains  news 
as  late  as  April  30.  The  name  Rasselas  Johnson  got  from  Lobo's 
Voyage  to  Abyssinia.  On  p.  102  of  that  book  he  mentions  'Rassela 
Christos,  Lieutenant -General  to  Sultan  Segued.'  On  p.  262  he  ex- 
plains the  meaning  of  the  first  part  of  the  word  : — 'There  is  now  a 
Generalissimo  established  under  the  title  of  Ras.  or  Chief.'  The  title 
still  exists.  Colonel  Gordon  mentions  Ras  Arya  and  Ras  Aloula. 
The  Rev.  W.  West,  in  his  Introduction  to  Rasselas,  p.  xxxi.  (Sampson 
Low  and  Co.),  says  : — '  The  word  Ras,  which  is  common  to  the  Amha- 
ric,  Arabic,  and  Hebrew  tongues,  signifies  a  head,  and  hence  a  prince, 
chief,  or  captain.  .  .  .  Sela  Christos  means  either  "  Picture  of  Christ," 
or  "  For  the  sake  of  Christ."  ' 

Hawkins 


Aetat.  50.]  RassELAS.  395 

Hawkins  guesses  vaguely  and  idly',  instead  of  having  taken 
the  trouble  to  inform  himself  with  authentick  precision.  Not 
to  trouble  my  readers  with  a  repetition  of  the  Knight's  rev- 
eries, I  have  to  mention,  that  the  late  Mr.  Strahan  the  printer 
told  me,  that  Johnson  wrote  it,  that  with  the  profits  he 
might  defray  the  expence  of  his  mother's  funeral,  and  pay 
some  little  debts  which  she  had  left.  He  told  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds  that  he  composed  it  in  the  evenings  of  one  week, 
sent  it  to  the  press  in  portions  as  it  was  written,  and  had 
never  since  read  it  oveP.  Mr.  Strahan,  Mr.  Johnston,  and 
Mr.  Dodsley  purchased  it  for  a  hundred  pounds\  but  after- 
wards paid  him  twenty-five  pounds  more,  when  it  came  to  a 
second  edition. 

Considering  the  large  sums  which  have  been  received  for 
compilations,  and  works  requiring  not  much  more  genius 
than  compilations*,  we  cannot  but  wonder  at  the  very  low 
price  which  he  was  content  to  receive  for  this  admirable  per- 
formance ;  which,  though  he  had  written  nothing  else,  would 
have  rendered  his  name  immortal  in  the  world  of  literature. 
None  of  his  writings  has  been  so  extensively  diffused  over 
Europe ;  for  it  has  been  translated  into  most,  if  not  all,  of 
the  modern  languages\  This  Tale,  with  all  the  charms  of 
oriental  imagery,  and  all  the  force  and  beauty  of  which  the 
English  language  is  capable,  leads  us  through  the  most  im- 
portant scenes  of  human  life,  and  shews  us  that  this  stage  of 

'  Hawkins's  Johnson,  p.  367, 

'  See  post,  June  2,  1781.  Finding  it  then  accidentally  in  a  chaise 
with  Mr.  Boswell,  he  read  it  eagerly.  This  was  doubtless  long  after 
his  declaration  to  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.     Malone. 

'  Baretti  told  Malone  that  'Johnson  insisted  on  part  of  the  money 
being  paid  immediately,  and  accordingly  received  ^^70.  Any  other 
person  with  the  degree  of  reputation  he  then  possessed  would  have 
got  ^400  for  that  work,  but  he  never  understood  the  art  of  making 
the  most  of  his  productions."  Prior's  Malone,  p.  160.  Some  of  the 
other  circumstances  there  related  by  Baretti  are  not  correct. 

*  Hawkesworth  received  ^6000  for  his  revision  of  Cook's  Voyages; 
post.  May  7,  1773. 

*  StG^  post,  March  4,  1773. 

our 


39^  Rasselas  and  Candide.  [a.d.  1759. 

our  being  is  full  of  'vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit'.'  To  those 
who  look  no  further  than  the  present  life,  or  who  maintain 
that  human  nature  has  not  fallen  from  the  state  in  which  it 
was  created,  the  instruction  of  this  sublime  story  will  be  of 
no  avail.  But  they  who  think  justly,  and  feel  with  strong 
sensibility,  will  listen  with  eagerness  and  admiration  to  its 
truth  and  wisdom.  Voltaire's  Qandide ,\nx\Vi&x\  to  refute  the 
system  of  Optimism,  which  it  has  accomplished  with  brilliant 
success,  is  wonderfully  similar  in  its  plan  and  conduct  to  John- 
s,ori  s  Rasselas ;  insomuch, that  I  have  heard  Johnson  say*,  that 
if  they  had  not  been  published  so  closely  one  after  the  other 
that  there  was  not  time  for  imitation,  it  would  have  been  in 
vain  to  deny  that  the  scheme  of  that  which  came  latest  was 
taken  from  the  other.  Though  the  proposition  illustrated 
by  both  these  works  was  the  same,  namely,  that  in  our  pres- 
ent state  there  is  more  evil  than  good,  the  intention  of  the 
writers  was  very  different.  Voltaire,  I  am  afraid,  meant  only 
by  wanton  profaneness  to  obtain  a  sportive  victory  over 
religion,  and  to  discredit  the  belief  of  a  superintending  Provi- 
dence :  Johnson  meant,  by  shewing  the  unsatisfactory  nature 
of  things  temporal,  to  direct  the  hopes  of  man  to  things 
eternal.  Rasselas,  as  was  observed  to  me  by  a  very  accom- 
plished lady,  may  be  considered  as  a  more  enlarged  and  more 
deeply  philosophical  discourse  in  prose,  upon  the  interesting 
truth,  which  in  his  Vanity  of  Human  WisJics  he  had  so  suc- 
cessfully enforced  in  verse. 

The  fund  of  thinking  which  this  work  contains  is  such, 
that  almost  every  sentence  of  it  may  furnish  a  subject  of  long 

'  Ecclesiastes,  i.  14. 

*  See  post.  May  16,  1778.  It  should  seem  that  Cattdide  was  published 
in  the  latter  half  of  February  1759.  Grimm  in  his  letter  of  March  i, 
speaks  of  its  having  just  appeared.  '  M.  de  Voltaire  vient  de  nous 
egayer  par  un  petit  roman.'  He  does  not  mention  it  in  his  previous 
letter  of  Feb.  15.  Grimm,  Corrcs.  Lit.  (edit.  1829),  ii.  296.  Johnson's 
letter  to  Miss  Porter,  quoted  in  the  Appendix,  shows  that  Rasselas 
was  written  before  March  23 ;  how  much  earlier  cannot  be  known. 
Candide  is  in  the  May  list  of  books  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  (pp.  233-5),  price 
zs.  6d.,  and  with  it  two  translations,  each  price  \s.  6d. 

meditation. 


Aetat.  50.]  ApparifioHS.  397 

meditation.  I  am  not  satisfied  if  a  year  passes  without  my 
having  read  it  through  ;  and  at  every  perusal,  my  admiration 
of  the  mind  which  produced  it  is  so  highly  raised,  that  I  can 
scarcely  believe  that  I  had  the  honour  of  enjoying  the  inti- 
macy of  such  a  man. 

I  restrain  myself  from  quoting  passages  from  this  excellent 
work,  or  even  referring  to  them,  because  I  should  not  know 
what  to  select,  or  rather,  what  to  omit.  I  shall,  however, 
transcribe  one,  as  it  shews  how  well  he  could  state  the  argu- 
ments of  those  who  believe  in  the  appearance  of  departed 
spirits ;  a  doctrine  which  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  he 
himself  ever  positively  held' : 

'  If  all  your  fear  be  of  apparitions,  (said  the  Prince,)  I  will  prom- 
ise you  safety :  there  is  no  danger  from  the  dead;  he  that  is  once 
buried  will  be  seen  no  more.' 

'That  the  dead  are  seen  no  more,  (said  Imlac,)  I  will  not  under- 
take to  maintain,  against  the  concurrent  and  unvaried  testimony  of 
all  ages,  and  of  all  nations.  There  is  no  people,  rude  or  learned, 
among  whom  apparitions  of  the  dead  are  not  related  and  believed. 
This  opinion,  which  prevails"  as  far  as  human  nature  is  diffused, 
could  become  universal  only  by  its  truth  ;  those  that  never  heard 
of  one  another,  would  not  have  agreed  in  a  tale  which  nothing  but 
experience  can  make  credible.  That  it  is  doubted  by  single  cavil- 
lers, can  very  little  weaken  the  general  evidence;  and  some  who 
deny  it  with  their  tongues,  confess  it  by  their  fears.' 

Notwithstanding  my  high  admiration  of  Rassclas,  I  will 
not  maintain  that  the  '  morbid  melancholy' '  in  Johnson's  con- 
stitution may  not,  perhaps,  have  made  life  appear  to  him 
more  insipid  and  unhappy  than  it  generally  is  ;  for  I  am  sure 
that  he  had  less  enjoyment  from  it  than  I  have.  Yet,  what- 
ever additional  shade  his  own  particular  sensations  may  have 
thrown  on  his  representation  of  life,  attentive  observation 

'  See /t'jr/,  June  13,  1763. 

'  In  the  original, — 'which,  perhaps,  prevails.'     Rasselas,  ch.  xxxi. 

'  This  is  the  second  time  that  Boswell  puts  '  morbid  melancholy  * 
in  quotation  marks  {ante,  p.  72).  Perhaps  he  refers  to  a  passage  in 
Hawkins's  Johnson  (p.  387"),  where  the  author  speaks  of  Johnson's 
melancholy  as  '  this  morbid  affection,  as  he  was  used  to  call  it.' 

and 


398  ' Live  pleasant'  [a.d.  1759. 

and  close  inquiry  have  convinced  me,  that  there  is  too  much 
of  reaHty  in  the  gloomy  picture.  The  truth,  however,  is, 
that  we  judge  of  the  happiness  and  misery  of  Hfe  differently 
at  different  times,  according  to  the  state  of  our  changeable 
frame.  I  always  remember  a  remark  made  to  me  by  a  Turk- 
ish lady,  educated  in  France,  "Ma  foi.  Monsieur,  notrc  honJiciir 
depend  de  la  fa^on  que  notre  sang  circidc'  This  have  I  learnt 
from  a  pretty  hard  course  of  experience,  and  would,  from  sin- 
cere benevolence,  impress  upon  all  w4io  honour  this  book 
with  a  perusal,  that  until  a  steady  conviction  is  obtained,  that 
the  present  life  is  an  imperfect  state,  and  only  a  passage  to 
a  better,  if  we  comply  with  the  divine  scheme  of  progressive 
improvement ;  and  also  that  it  is  a  part  of  the  mysterious 
plan  of  Providence,  that  intellectual  beings  must  '  be  made 
perfect  through  suffering';'  there  wall  be  a  continual  recur- 
rence of  disappointment  and  uneasiness.  But  if  we  walk 
with  hope  in  '  the  mid-day  sun'  of  revelation,  our  temper  and 
disposition  will  be  such,  that  the  comforts  and  enjoyments 
in  our  way  will  be  relished,  while  we  patiently  support  the 
inconveniences  and  pains.  After  much  speculation  and  va- 
rious reasonings,  I  acknowledge  myself  convinced  of  the  truth 
of  Voltaire's  conclusion,  "Apres  tont  cest  un  inondc  passable" i 
But  we  must  not  think  too  deeply; 

'Where  ignorance  is  bliss,  'tis  folly  to  be  wiseV 
is,  in  many  respects,  more  than  poetically  just.     Let  us  cul- 
tivate, under  the  command  of  good  principles,  '  la  theorie  des 
sensations  agreables ;'  and,  as  Mr.  Burke  once  admirably  coun- 
selled a  grave  and  anxious  gentleman,  '  live  pleasanf*.' 

'  '  Perfect  through  sufferings.'     Hebrews,  ii.  10. 

*  Perhaps  the  reference  is  to  the  conclusion  of  Le  Monde  cominc  il 
va : — '  II  resolut  .  .  .  de  laisser  aller  /<?  monde  comme  il  va  ;  car,  dit-il, 
si  tout  n  est  pas  bien,  tout  est  passable.' 

'  Gray,  On  a  Distant  Prospect  of  Eton  College. 

*•  Johnson  writing  to  Mrs.  Thrale  said  : — '  Vivite  laeti  is  one  of  the 
great  rules  of  health.'  Piozzi  Letters,  ii.  55.  '  It  was  the  motto  of  a 
bishop  very  eminent  for  his  piety  and  good  works  in  King  Charles 
the  Second's  reign,  Inservi  Deo  ct  laetare — "  Serve  God  and  be  cheer- 
ful." '     Addison's  Freeholder,  No.  45. 

The 


Aetat.oO.j  Tjje  I dlek  pirated.  399 

The  effect  of  Rasselas,  and  of  Johnson's  other  moral  tales, 
is  thus  beautifully  illustrated  by  Mr.  Courtenay : 

'Impressive  truth,  in  splendid  fiction  drest, 
Checks  the  vain  wish,  and  calms  the  troubled  breast ; 
O'er  the  dark  mind  a  light  celestial  throws, 
And  sooths  the  angry  passions  to  repose  ; 
As  oil  effus'd  illumes  and  smooths  the  deep, 
When  round  the  bark  the  swelling  surges  sweep'.' 

It  will  be  recollected,  that  during  all  this  year  he  carried 
on  his  Idler",  and,  no  doubt,  was  proceeding,  though  slowly, 

'  Literary  and  Moral  Character  of  Dr.  Johnson.     Boswell. 

^  This  paper  was  in  such  high  estimation  before  it  was  collected 
into  volumes,  that  it  was  seized  on  with  avidity  by  various  publishers 
of  news-papers  and  magazines,  to  enrich  their  publications.  John- 
son, to  put  a  stop  to  this  unfair  proceeding,  wrote  for  the  Universal 
Chronicle  the  following  advertisement ;  in  which  there  is,  perhaps, 
more  pomp  of  words  than  the  occasion  demanded : 

'  London,  January  5,  1759.  Advertisement.  The  proprietors  of 
the  paper  intitled  The  Idler,  having  found  that  those  essays  are 
inserted  in  the  news-papers  and  magazines  with  so  little  regard  to 
justice  or  decency,  that  the  Universal  Chronicle,  in  which  they  first 
appear,  is  not  always  mentioned,  think  it  necessary  to  declare  to 
the  publishers  of  those  collections,  that  however  patiently  they  have 
hitherto  endured  these  injuries,  made  yet  more  injurious  by  con- 
tempt, they  have  now  determined  to  endure  them  no  longer.  They 
have  already  seen  essays,  for  which  a  very  large  price  is  paid,  trans- 
ferred, with  the  most  shameless  rapacity,  into  the  weekly  or  monthly 
compilations,  and  their  right,  at  least  for  the  present,  alienated  from 
them,  before  they  could  themselves  be  said  to  enjoy  it.  But  they 
would  not  willingly  be  thought  to  want  tenderness,  even  for  men  by 
whom  no  tenderness  hath  been  shewn.  The  past  is  without  remedy, 
and  shall  be  without  resentment.  But  those  who  have  been  thus  busy 
with  their  sickles  in  the  fields  of  their  neighbours,  are  henceforward 
to  take  notice,  that  the  time  of  impunity  is  at  an  end.  Whoever  shall, 
without  our  leave,  lay  the  hand  of  rapine  upon  our  papers,  is  to  expect 
that  we  shall  vindicate  our  due,  by  the  means  which  justice  prescribes, 
and  which  are  warranted  by  the  immemorial  prescriptions  of  honour- 
able trade.  We  shall  lay  hold,  in  our  turn,  on  their  copies,  degrade 
them  from  the  pomp  of  wide  margin  and  diffuse  typography,  contract 
them  into  a  narrow  space,  and  sell  them  at  an  humble  price ;  yet  not 
with  a  view  of  growing  rich  by  confiscations,  for  we  think  not  much 

in 


400  Mr.  Joseph  Simpson.  [a.d.  1759. 

in  his  edition  of  SJiakspeare.  He,  however,  from  that  liber- 
ality which  never  failed,  when  called  upon  to  assist  other 
labourers  in  literature,  found  time  to  translate  for  Mrs.  Len- 
nox's English  version  of  Brumoy,  '  A  Dissertation  on  the 
Greek  Comedy, 'f  and  '  The  General  Conclusion  of  the  book.'f 

An  inquiry  into  the  state  of  foreign  countries  was  an  object 
that  seems  at  all  times  to  have  interested  Johnson.  Hence 
Mr.  Newbeiy  found  no  great  difificult)'  in  persuading  him  to 
write  the  Introduction-  to  a  collection  of  voyages  and  travels 
published  by  him  under  the  title  of  The  World  Displayed ; 
the  first  volume  of  which  appeared  this  year,  and  the  remain- 
ing volumes  in  subsequent  years. 

I  would  ascribe  to  this  year'  the  following  letter  to  a  son 
of  one  of  his  early  friends  at  Lichfield,  Mr.  Joseph  Simpson, 
Barrister,  and  authour  of  a  tract  entitled  Reflections  on  the 
Study  of  the  Laiv. 

better  of  money  got  by  punishment  than  by  crimes.  We  shall,  there- 
fore, when  our  losses  are  repaid,  give  what  profit  shall  remain  to  the 
Magdalens;  for  we  know  not  who  can  be  more  properly  taxed  for  the 
support  of  penitent  prostitutes,  than  prostitutes  in  whom  there  yet 
appears  neither  penitence  nor  shame.'     Bos  well. 

'  I  think  that  this  letter  belongs  to  a  later  date,  probably  to  1765  or 
1766.  As  we  \&z.xx\, post ,  April  10,  1776,  Simpson  was  a  barrister  'who 
fell  into  a  dissipated  course  of  life.'  On  July  2,  1765,  Johnson  records 
that  he  repaid  him  ten  guineas  which  he  had  borrowed  in  the  lifetime 
of  Mrs.  Johnson  (his  wife).  He  also  lent  him  ten  guineas  more.  If 
it  was  in  1759  that  Simpson  was  troubled  by  small  debts,  it  is  most 
unlikely  that  Johnson  let  six  years  more  pass  without  repaying  him  a 
loan  which  even  then  was  at  least  of  seven  years'  standing.  More- 
over, in  this  letter  Johnson  writes : — '  I  have  been  invited,  or  have  in- 
vited myself,  to  several  parts  of  the  kingdom."  The  only  visits,  it 
seems,  that  he  paid  between  17  54- 1762  were  to  Oxford  in  1759  ^"^ 
to  Lichfield  in  the  winter  of  1761-2.  After  1762,  when  his  pension 
gave  him  means,  he  travelled  frequently.  Besides  all  this,  he  says  of 
his  step-daughter  : — '  I  will  not  incommode  my  dear  Lucy  by  coming 
to  Lichfield,  while  her  present  lodging  is  of  any  use  to  her.'  Miss 
Porter  seems  to  have  lived  in  his  house  till  she  had  built  one  for 
herself.  Though  his  letter  to  her  of  Jan.  10,  1764  (Croker's  Boswell, 
p.  163),  shews  that  it  was  then  building,  yet  she  had  not  left  his  house 
pn  Jan,  14,  1766  {ib,  p.  173), 

'To 


Aetat.  50.]  Parental  tyranny.  401 

'  To  Joseph  Simpson,  Esq. 

'  Dear  Sir, 

'Your  father's  inexorability  not  only  grieves  but  amazes  me' : 
he  is  your  father  ;  he  was  always  accounted  a  wise  man  ;  nor  do  I 
remember  anything  to  the  disadvantage  of  his  good-nature  ;  but  in 
his  refusal  to  assist  you  there  is  neither  good-nature,  fatherhood, 
nor  wisdom.  It  is  the  practice  of  good-nature  to  overlook  faults 
which  have  already,  by  the  consequences,  punished  the  delinquent. 
It  is  natural  for  a  father  to  think  more  favourably  than  others  of 
his  children  ;  and  it  is  always  wise  to  give  assistance  while  a  little 
help  will  prevent  the  necessity  of  a  greater. 

'  If  you  married  imprudently,  you  miscarried  at  your  own  hazard, 
at  an  age  when  you  had  a  right  of  choice.  It  would  be  hard  if 
the  man  might  not  choose  his  own  wife,  who  has  a  right  to  plead 
before  the  Judges  of  his  country. 

'  If  your  imprudence  has  ended  in  difficulties  and  inconveniences, 
you  are  yourself  to  support  them  ;  and,  with  the  help  of  a  little 
better  health,  you  would  support  them  and  conquer  them.  Surely, 
that  want  which  accident  and  sickness  produces,  is  to  be  supported 
in  every  region  of  humanity,  though  there  were  neither  friends  nor 
fathers  in  the  world.  You  have  certainly  from  your  father  the 
highest  claim  of  charity,  though  none  of  right  ;  and  therefore  1 
would  counsel  you  to  omit  no  decent  nor  manly  degree  of  impor- 
tunity. Your  debts  in  the  whole  are  not  large,  and  of  the  whole 
but  a  small  part  is  troublesome.     Small  debts  are  like  small  shot ; 


'  In  the  Rambler,  No.  148, entitled  'The  cruelty  of  parental  tyranny,' 
Johnson,  after  noticing  the  oppression  inflicted  by  the  perversion  of 
legal  authority,  says  : — '  Equally  dangerous  and  equally  detestable  are 
the  cruelties  often  exercised  in  private  families,  under  the  venerable 
sanction  of  parental  authority."  He  continues : — '  Even  though  no 
consideration  should  be  paid  to  the  great  law  of  social  beings,  by 
which  every  individual  is  commanded  to  consult  the  happiness  of 
others,  yet  the  harsh  parent  is  less  to  be  vindicated  than  any  other 
criminal,  because  he  less  provides  for  the  happiness  of  himself.'  See 
also  post,  March  29,  1779.  A  passage  in  one  of  Boswell's  Letters  to 
Temple  (p.  in)  may  also  be  quoted  here  : — 'The  time  was  when  such 
a  letter  from  my  father  as  the  one  I  enclose  would  have  depressed : 
but  I  am  now  firm,  and,  as  my  revered  friend,  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson, 
used  to  say,  I  feel  the  privileges  of  an  independent  htanan  being  ;  how- 
ever, it  is  hard  that  I  cannot  have  the  pious  satisfaction  of  being  well 
with  my  father.' 

I. — 26  they 


402  An  excursion  to  Oxford.  [a.d.  1759. 

they  are  rattling  on  every  side,  and  can  scarcely  be  escaped  with- 
out a  wound  :  great  debts  are  like  cannon  ;  of  loud  noise,  but  little 
danger.  You  must,  therefore,  be  enabled  to  discharge  petty  debts, 
that  you  may  have  leisure,  with  security,  to  struggle  with  the  rest. 
Neither  the  great  nor  little  debts  disgrace  you.  1  am  sure  you 
have  my  esteem  for  the  courage  with  which  you  contracted  them, 
and  the  spirit  with  which  you  endure  them.  I  wish  my  esteem 
could  be  of  more  use.  1  have  been  invited,  or  have  invited  my- 
self, to  several  parts  of  the  kingdom  \  and  will  not  incommode  my 
dear  Lucy  by  coming  to  Lichfield,  while  her  present  lodging  is  of 
any  use  to  her.  I  hope,  in  a  few  days,  to  be  at  leisure,  and  to  make 
visits.  Whither  I  shall  fly  is  matter  of  no  importance.  A  man 
unconnected  is  at  home  every  where  ;  unless  he  may  be  said  to  be 
at  home  no  where.  I  am  sorry,  dear  Sir,  that  where  you  have 
parents,  a  man  of  your  merits  should  not  have  an  home.  1  wish 
I  could  give  it  you.     I  am,  my  dear  Sir, 

'  Affectionately  yours, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

He  r\ovi  refreshed  himself  by  an  excursion  to  Oxford,  of 
which  the  following  short  characteristical  notice,  in  his  own 
words,  is  preserved  : — 

'*  *  *  *  is  now  making  tea  for  me.  I  have  been  in  my  gown  ever 
since  I  came  here^  It  was,  at  my  first  coming,  quite  new  and 
handsome.  I  have  swum  thrice,  which  I  had  disused  for  many 
years.  I  have  proposed  to  Vansittart^  climbing  over  the  wall,  but 
he  has  refused  me.  And  I  have  clapped  my  hands  till  they  are 
sore,  at  Dr.  King's  speech\' 

'  Perhaps  '  Van,'  for  Vansittart. 

'  Lord  Stowell  informs  me  that  Johnson  prided  himself  in  being, 
during  his  visits  to  Oxford,  accurately  academic  in  all  points  :  and  he 
wore  his  gown  almost  ostetitatioiisly.     Croker. 

'  Dr.  Robert  Vansittart,  of  the  ancient  and  respectable  family  of 
that  name  in  Berkshire.  He  was  eminent  for  learning  and  worth, 
and  much  esteemed  by  Dr.  Johnson.  Boswell.  Johnson  perhaps 
proposed  climbing  over  the  wall  on  the  day  on  which  'University 
College  witnessed  him  drink  three  bottles  of  port  without  being  the 
worse  for  it.'     Post,  April  7,  1778. 

*■  Gentleman's  Magazine,  April,  1785.  Boswell.  The  speech  was 
made  on  July  7,  1759,  the  last  day  of  'the  solemnity  of  the  install- 
ment '  of  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland  as  Chancellor  of  the  University. 

His 


Aetat.  50.|  'l/ie  g7'eat  C//AM  of  literature.  40; 


His  negro  servant,  Francis  Barber,  having  left  him,  and 
been  some  time  at  sea,  not  pressed  as  has  been  supposed, 
but  with  his  own  consent,  it  appears  from  a  letter  to  John 
Wilkes,  Esq.,  from  Dr.  Smollet,  that  his  master  kindly  inter- 
ested himself  in  procuring  his  release  from  a  state  of  life  of 
which  Johnson  always  expressed  the  utmost  abhorrence.  He 
said,  '  No  man  will  be  a  sailor  who  has  contrivance  enough 
to  get  himself  into  a  jail  ;  for  being  in  a  ship  is  being  in  a 
jail,  with  the  chance  of  being  drowned'.'  And  at  another 
time,  'A  man  in  a  jail  has  more  room,  better  food,  and  com- 
monly better  company\'     The  letter  was  as  follows  :— 

'Chelsea,  March  16,  1759. 
'Dear  Sir, 

'  I  am  again  your  petitioner,  in  behalf  of  that  great  Cham^  of 
literature,  Samuel  Johnson.      His  black  servant,  whose  name  is 


On  the  3rd  '  the  ceremony  began  with  a  grand  procession  of  noble- 
men, doctors,  &c.,  in  their  proper  habits,  which  passed  through  St. 
Mary's,  and  was  there  joined  by  the  Masters  of  Arts  in  their  proper 
habits ;  and  from  thence  proceeded  to  the  great  gate  of  the  Sheldo- 
nian  Theatre,  in  which  the  most  numerous  and  brilliant  assembly  of 
persons  of  quality  and  distinction  was  seated,  that  had  ever  been  seen 
there  on  any  occasion.'  Gent.  Mag.  xxix.  342.  Would  that  we  had 
some  description  of  Johnson,  as,  in  his  new  and  handsome  gown,  he 
joined  the  procession  among  the  Masters  !     See  ante,  p.  326. 

'  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  3d  edit.  p.  126  [Aug.  31].  Bos- 
WELL.  The  chance  of  death  from  disease  would  seem  also  to  have 
been  greater  on  the  ship  than  in  a  jail.  In  The  Idler  (No.  38)  John- 
son estimates  that  one  in  four  of  the  prisoners  dies  every  year.  In 
his  Review  of  Hanway's  Essay  on  Tea  {lVorks,v\.  31)  he  states  that 
he  is  told  that  'of  the  five  or  six  hundred  seamen  sent  to  China,  some- 
times half,  commonly  a  third  part,  perish  in  the  voyage.'  See  post, 
April  ID,  1778. 

*  Ibid.  p.  251  [Sept.  23].     BoswF.i.L.  • 

'  In  my  first  edition  this  word  was  printed  Chum,  as  it  appears  in 
one  of  Mr.  Wilkes's  Miscellanies,  and  I  animadverted  on  Dr.  Smollet's 
ignorance ;  for  which  let  me  propitiate  the  manes  of  that  ingenious 
and  benevolent  gentleman.  ChuiM  was  certainly  a  mistaken  reading 
for  Cham,  the  title  of  the  Sovereign  of  Tartary,  which  is  well  applied 
to  Johnson,  the  Monarch  of  Literature ;  and  was  an  epithet  familiar 
to  Smollet.     See  Roderick  Random,  chap.  56.     For  this  correction  I 

Francis 


404  yohiisoii  s  black  servaiU  a  I  sea.       [a.d.  I7r»9. 

Francis  Barber,  has  been  pressed  on  board  the  Stag  Frigate,  Cap- 
tain Angel,  and  our  lexicographer  is  in  great  distress.  He  says 
the  boy  is  a  sickly  lad,  of  a  delicate  frame,  and  particularly  subject 
to  a  malady  in  his  throat,  which  renders  him  very  unfit  for  his 
Majesty's  service.  You  know  what  manner  of  animosity  the  said 
Johnson  has  against  you';  and  I  dare  say  you  desire  no  other 
opportunity  of  resenting  it  than  that  of  laying  him  under  an  obliga- 
tion. Hu  was  humble  enough  to  desire  my  assistance  on  this  occa- 
sion, though  he  and  1  were  never  cater-cousins:  and  I  gave  him 
to  understand  that  1  would  make  application  to  my  friend  Mr. 
Wilkes,  who,  perhaps,  by  his  interest  with  Dr.  Hay  and  Mr.  Elliot, 
might  be  able  to  procure  the  discharge  of  his  lacquey.  It  wf)uld 
be  superfluous  to  say  more  on  the  subject,  which  I  leave  to  your 
own  consideration  ;  but  1  cannot  let  slip  this  opportunity  of  declar- 
ing that  1  am,  with  the  most  inviolable  esteem  and  attachment, 
dear  Sir, 

'  Your  affectionate,  obliged,  humble  servant, 

'  T.    S.MOLLET.' 

Mr.  Wilkes,  who  upon  all  occasions  has  acted,  as  a  private 
<^entleman,  with  most  polite  liberality,  applied  to  iiis  friend 
Sir  George  Ha>%  then  one  of  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  the 
Admiralty ;  and   Francis   Barber  was  discharged,  as  he  has 

am  indebted  to  Lord  Palmerston,  whose  talents  and  literary  acquire- 
ments accord  well  with  his  respectable  pedigree  of  Tempi, k.     Bo.s- 

WELL. 

After  the  publication  of  the  second  edition  of  this  work,  the  authour 
was  furnished  by  Mr.  Abercrombie,  of  Philadelphia,  with  the  copy  of 
a  letter  written  by  Dr.  John  Armstrong,  the  poet,  to  Dr.  Smollet  at 
Leghorne,  containing  the  following  paragraph  : — '  As  to  the  K.  Bench 
patriot,  it  is  hard  to  say  from  what  motive  he  published  a  letter  of 
yours  asking  some  trifling  favour  of  him  in  behalf  of  somebody,  for 
whom  the  great  Cham  of  literature,  Mr.  Johnson,  had  interested  him- 
self.' Malone.  In  the  first  edition  Boswell  had  said: — 'Had  Dr. 
Smollet  been  bred  at  an  English  Univ-ersity,  he  would  have  known 
that  a  chum  is  a  student  who  lives  with  another  in  a  chamber  common 
to  them  both.     A  chum  of  literature  is  nonsense." 

'  In  a  note  to  that  piece  of  bad  book-making,  Almon's  Memoirs  of 
Wilkes  (i.47),  this  allusion  is  thus  explained  : — 'A  pleasantry  of  Mr. 
Wilkes  on  that  passage  in  Johnson's  Grammar  of  the  English  Tongue, 
prefixed  to  the  Dictionary — "  H  seldom,  perhaps  never,  begins  any  but 
the  first  syllable."  '     For  this  '  pleasantry '  see  ante,  p.  347. 

told 


Aetat.  50.]  Life  ill  Iimer  Temp  It -lane.  405 

told  me,  without  any  wish  of  his  own.  He  found  his  old 
master  in  Chambers  in  the  Inner  Tcmi)lc',  and  returned  to 
his  service. 

What  particular  new  scheme  of  life  Johnson  had  in  view 
this  year,  I  have  not  discovered  ;  but  that  he  meditated  one 
of  some  sort,  is  clear  from  his  private  devotions,  in  which  we 
find",  '  the  change  of  outward  things  which  I  am  now  to 
make ;'  and,  '  Grant  me  the  grace  of  thy  Holy  Spirit,  that 
the  course  which  I  am  now  beginning  may  proceed  accord- 
ing to  thy  laws,  and  end  in  the  enjoyment  of  thy  favour.' 
But  he  did  not,  in  fact,  make  any  external  or  visible  change'. 

'  Mr.  Croker  says  that  he  was  not  discharged  till  June  1760.  Had 
he  been  discharged  at  once  he  would  have  found  Johnson  moving 
from  Gough  Square  to  Staple  Inn  ;  for  in  a  letter  to  Miss  Porter, 
dated  March  23,  1759.  given  in  the  Appendix,  Johnson  said  : — '  I  have 
this  day  mov^ed  my  things,  and  you  are  now  to  direct  to  me  at  Staple 
Inn.' 

'^  Prayers  and  Meditations,  pp.  30  [39]  and  40.     BoswELL. 

^  '  I  have  left  off  housekeeping '  wrote  Johnson  to  Langton  on  Jan. 
9,  1759.  Murphy  {Life,  p.  90),  writing  of  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1759,  says:  —  'Johnson  now  found  it  necessary  to  retrench  his  ex- 
penses. He  gave  up  his  house  in  Gough  Square.  Mrs.  Williams  went 
into  lodgings  [see  post,  July  i,  1763].  He  retired  to  Gray's-Inn,  [he 
had  first  moved  to  Staple  Inn],  and  soon  removed  to  chambers  in  the 
Inner  Temple-lane,  where  he  lived  in  poverty,  total  idleness,  and  the 
pride  of  WtcrdlnvQ,  Magni  stat  nominis  umbra.  Mr.  Fitzherbert  used 
to  say  that  he  paid  a  morning  visit  to  Johnson,  intending  from  his 
chambers  to  send  a  letter  into  the  city ;  but,  to  his  great  surprise,  he 
found  an  authour  by  profession  without  pen,  ink.  or  paper.'  (It  was 
Mr.  Fitzherbert,  who  sent  Johnson  some  wine.  See  ante,  p.  353,  note 
2.  See  ^\?,o  post,  Sept.  15,  1777).  The  following  documents  confirm 
Murphy's  statement  of  Johnson's  poverty  at  this  time  : 

'  May  19,  1759. 

'  I  promise  to  pay  to  Mr.  Newbery  the  sum  of  forty-two  pounds,  nine- 
teen shillings,  and  ten  pence  on  demand,  value  received.     £\2  19  10. 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

'  I  promise  to  pay  to  Mr.  Newbery  the  sum  of  thirty  pounds  upon 
demand.     ^3000.  '  Sam.  Johnson.' 

In  1 75 1  he  had  thrice  borrowed  money  of  Newbery,  but  the  total 
amount  of  the  loans  was  only  four  guineas.  Prior's  Goldsmith,  i.  340. 
With  Johnson's  want  of  pen,  ink,  and  paper  we  may  compare  the  ac- 

At 


4o6  BlackfriarS'bridge.  [a.d.  1759. 


At  this  time,  there  being  a  competition  among  the  archi- 
tects of  London  to  be  employed  in  the  building  of  Black- 
friars-bridge,  a  question  was  very  warmly  agitated  whether 
semicircular  or  elliptical  arches  were  preferable.  In  the  de- 
sign offered  by  Mr.  Mylne  the  elliptical  form  was  adopted, 
and  therefore  it  was  the  great  object  of  his  rivals  to  attack  it. 
Johnson's  regard  for  his  friend  Mr.  Gwyn  induced  him  to  en- 
gage in  this  controversy  against  Mr.  Mylne' ;  and  after  being 


count  that  he  gives  of  Savage's  destitution  (^lVorks^\'\\\.  iii) : — '  Nor 
had  he  any  other  conveniences  for  study  than  the  fields  or  the  streets 
allowed  him  ;  there  he  used  to  walk  and  form  his  speeches,  and  after- 
wards step  into  a  shop,  beg  for  a  few  moments  the  use  of  the  pen  and 
ink,  and  write  down  what  he  had  composed  upon  paper  which  he  had 
picked  up  by  accident.'  Hawkins  {U/f.  p.  383)  says  that  Johnson's 
chambers  were  two  doors  down  the  Inner  Temple  Lane.  '  I  have 
been  told,'  he  continues, '  by  his  neighbour  at  the  corner,  that  during 
the  time  he  dwelt  there,  more  inquiries  were  made  at  his  shop  for  Mr. 
Johnson,  than  for  all  the  inhabitants  put  together  of  both  the  Inner 
and  Middle  Temple.'  In  a  court  opening  out  of  Fleet  Street,  Gold- 
smith at  this  very  time  was  still  more  miserably  lodged.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  March  1759,  Percy  found  him  'employed  in  writing  his 
Enquiry  into  Polite  Learning  in  a  wretched  dirty  room,  in  which  there 
was  but  one  chair,  and  when  he  from  civility  offered  it  to  his  visitant, 
himself  was  obliged  to  sit  in  the  window.'  Goldsmith's  Misc.  Works, 
i.6i. 

'  Sir  John  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  373)  has  given  a  long  detail  of  it,  in 
that  manner  vulgarly,  but  significantly,  called  rigmarole;  in  which, 
amidst  an  ostentatious  exhibition  of  arts  and  artists,  he  talks  of  'pro- 
portions of  a  column  being  taken  from  that  of  the  human  figure,  and 
adjusted  by  Nature — masculine  and  feminine^in  a  man,  sesquiocta7>e 
of  the  head,  and  in  a  woman  sesquinonal;'  nor  has  he  failed  to  intro- 
duce a  jargon  of  musical  terms,  which  do  not  seem  much  to  corre- 
spond with  the  subject,  but  serv^e  to  make  up  the  heterogeneous  mass. 
To  follow  the  Knight  through  all  this,  would  be  an  useless  fatigue  to 
myself,  and  not  a  little  disgusting  to  my  readers.  I  shall,  therefore, 
only  make  a  few  remarks  upon  his  statement. — He  seems  to  exult  in 
having  detected  Johnson  in  procuring  '  from  a  person  eminently  skilled 
in  Mathematicks  and  the  principles  of  architecture,  answers  to  a  string 
of  questions  drawn  up  by  himself,  touching  the  comparative  strength 
of  semicircular  and  elliptical  arches.'  Now  I  cannot  conceive  how 
Johnson  could  have  acted  more  wisely.     Sir  John  complains  that  the 

at 


Aetat.  50.J  Blackfriars-bridgc.  407 

at  considerable  pains  to  study  the  subject,  he  wrote  three 
several  letters  in  the  Gazetteer,  in  opposition  to  his  plan. 


opinion  of  that  excellent  mathematician,  Mr.  Thomas  Simpson,  did 
not  preponderate  in  favour  of  the  semicircular  arch.  But  he  should 
have  known,  that  however  eminent  Mr.  Simpson  was  in  the  higher 
parts  of  abstract  mathematical  science,  he  was  little  versed  in  mixed 
and  practical  mechanicks.  Mr.  Muller,  of  Woolwich  Academy,  the 
scholastick  father  of  all  the  great  engineers  which  this  country  has 
employed  for  forty  years,  decided  the  question  by  declaring  clearly 
in  favour  of  the  elliptical  arch. 

It  is  ungraciously  suggested,  that  Johnson's  motive  for  opposing 
Mr.  Mylne's  scheme  may  have  been  his  prejudice  against  him  as  a  na- 
tive of  North  Britain  ;  when,  in  truth,  as  has  been  stated,  he  gave  the 
aid  of  his  able  pen  to  a  friend,  who  was  one  of  the  candidates ;  and  so 
far  was  he  from  having  any  illiberal  antipathy  to  Mr.  Mylne,  that  he 
afterwards  lived  with  that  gentleman  upon  very  agreeable  terms  of 
acquaintance,  and  dined  with  him  at  his  house.  Sir  John  Hawkins, 
indeed,  gives  full  vent  to  his  own  prejudice  in  abusing  Blackfriars- 
bridge,  calling  it  '  an  edifice,  in  which  beautj'^  and  symmetry  are  in 
vain  sought  for ;  by  which  the  citizens  of  London  have  perpetuated 
their  own  disgrace,  and  subjected  a  whole  nation  to  the  reproach  of 
foreigners.'  Whoever  has  contemplated, //(jr/fyi?  tiam'ne  [Horace,  Odes, 
iv.  3.  2],  this  stately,  elegant,  and  airy  structure,  which  has  so  fine  an 
effect,  especially  on  approaching  the  capital  on  that  quarter,  must 
wonder  at  such  unjust  and  ill-tempered  censure ;  and  I  appeal  to  all 
foreigners  of  good  taste,  whether  this  bridge  be  not  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  ornaments  of  London.  As  to  the  stability  of  the  fab- 
rick,  it  is  certain  that  the  City  of  London  took  every  precaution  to 
have  the  best  Portland  stone  for  it ;  but  as  this  is  to  be  found  in  the 
quarries  belonging  to  the  publick,  under  the  direction  of  the  Lords  of 
the  Treasury,  it  so  happened  that  parliamentary  interest,  which  is 
often  the  bane  of  fair  pursuits,  thwarted  their  endeavours.  Notwith- 
standing this  disadvantage,  it  is  well  known  that  not  only  has  Black- 
friars-bridge  never  sunk  either  in  its  foundation  or  in  its  arches,  which 
were  so  much  the  subject  of  contest,  but  any  injuries  which  it  has 
suffered  from  the  effects  of  severe  frosts  have  been  already,  in  some 
measure,  repaired  with  sounder  stone,  and  every  necessary  renewal 
can  be  completed  at  a  moderate  expence.  Boswell.  Horace  Wal- 
pole  mentions  an  ineffectual  application  made  by  the  City  to  Parlia- 
ment in  1764  'for  more  money  for  their  new  bridge  at  Blackfriars,' 
when  Dr.  Hay,  one  of  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty,  'abused  the  Com- 
mon Council,  whose   late   behaviour,  he  said,  entitled  them  to   no 

If 


4o8  'Born  a  Briton^  [a.d.  1760. 

If  it  should  be  remarked  that  this  was  a  controversy  which 
lay  quite  out  of  Johnson's  way,  let  it  be  remembered,  that 
after  all,  his  employing  his  powers  of  reasoning  and  eloquence 
upon  a  subject  which  he  had  studied  on  the  moment,  is  not 
more  strange  than  what  we  often  observe  in  lawyers,  who,  as 
Quicquid  agiint  Jioinincs'  is  the  matter  of  law-suits,  are  some- 
times obliged  to  pick  up  a  temporary  knowledge  of  an  art 
or  science,  of  which  they  understood  nothing  till  their  brief 
was  delivered,  and  appear  to  be  much  masters  of  it.  In  like 
manner,  members  of  the  legislature  frequently  introduce  and 
expatiate  upon  subjects  of  which  they  have  informed  them- 
selves for  the  occasion. 

1760:  .«TAT,  51.] — In  1760  he  wrote  An  Address  of  the 
Painters  to  George  III.  on  his  Accession  to  the  Throne  of  these 
KingdoDis,^  which  no  monarch  ever  ascended  with  more  sin- 
cere congratulations  from  his  people.  Two  generations  of 
foreign  princes  had  prepared  their  minds  to  rejoice  in  having 
again  a  King,  who  gloried  in  being  'born  a  Briton".'  He  also 
wrote  for  Mr.  Baretti  the  Dedicationf  of  his  Italian  and  Eng- 
lish Dictionary  to  the  Marquis  of  Abreu,  then  Envoy-Ex- 
traordinary from  Spain  at  the  Court  of  Great  Britain. 


favour.'  Walpole's  Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of  George  III,  i.  390.  The 
late  behaviour  was  the  part  taken  by  the  City  in  Wilkes's  case.  It 
was  the  same  love  of  liberty  no  doubt  that  lost  the  City  the  Portland 
stone.  Smollett  goes  out  of  the  way  to  praise  his  brother-Scot,  Mr. 
Mylne,  in  Hitvipliry  Clinker — 'a  party  novel  written,'  says  Horace 
Walpole,  'to  vindicate  the  Scots'  {Reis^n  of  George  III,  iv.  328).  In 
the  letter  dated  May  29,  he  makes  Mr.  Bramble  say : — '  The  bridge  at 
Blackfriars  is  a  noble  monument  of  taste  and  public  spirit — I  wonder 
how  they  stumbled  upon  a  work  of  such  magnificence  and  utility.' 

*  Juvenal,  Sat.  \.  85. 

'  '  Born  and  educated  in  this  country,  I  glory  in  the  name  of  Briton." 
— George  Ill's  first  speech  to  his  Parliament.  It  appears  from  the 
Hardwicke  Papers,  writes  the  editor  of  the  Pari.  Hist.  (xv.  982).  that 
after  the  draft  of  the  Speech  had  been  settled  by  the  cabinet,  these 
words  and  those  that  came  next  were  added  in  the  King's  own  hand. 
Wilkes  in  his  Dedication  of  Mortimer  (see  post.  May  15,  1776)  asserted 
that  'these  endearing  words,  "  Born.  &c.,"  were  permitted  to  be  seen 
in  the  royal  orthography  of  Britain  for  Briton.'     Almon's  IVor/cs,  i.  84. 

Johnson 


Aetat.  51.J      Relief  of  the  Fi-ench  Prisoners.  409 

Johnson  was  now  either  very  idle,  or  very  busy  with  his 
SJiakspeare ;  for  I  can  find  no  other  pubHck  composition  by 
him  except  an  Introduction  to  the  proceedings  of  the  Com- 
mittee for  cloathing  the  French  Prisoners'  ;*  one  of  the  many 


'  In  this  Introduction  (  Works,  vi.  148)  Johnson  answers  objections 
that  had  been  raised  against  the  rehef.  '  We  know  that  for  the  pris- 
oners of  war  there  is  no  legal  provision  ;  we  see  their  distress  and  are 
certain  of  its  cause  ;  we  know  that  they  are  poor  and  naked,  and  poor 
and  naked  without  a  crime.  .  .  .  The  opponents  of  this  charity  must 
allow  it  to  be  good,  and  will  not  easily  prove  it  not  to  be  the  best. 
That  charity  is  best  of  which  the  consequences  are  most  extensive ; 
the  relief  of  enemies  has  a  tendency  to  unite  mankind  in  fraternal 
affection.'  The  Committee  for  which  Johnson's  paper  was  written 
began  its  work  in  Dec.  1759.  In  the  previous  October  Wesley  records 
in  his  Jotcrnal  (ii.  461) : — '  I  walked  up  to  Knowle,  a  mile  from  Bristol, 
to  see  the  French  prisoners.  Above  eleven  hundred  of  them,  we  were 
informed,  were  confined  in  that  little  place,  without  anything  to  lie 
on  but  a  little  dirty  straw,  or  anything  to  cover  them  but  a  few  foul 
thin  rags,  either  by  day  or  night,  so  that  they  died  like  rotten  sheep. 
I  was  much  affected,  and  preached  in  the  evening  on  Exodus  xxiii.  9.' 
Money  was  at  once  contributed,  and  clothing  bought.  '  It  was  not 
long  before  contributions  were  set  on  foot  in  various  parts  of  the 
Kingdom.'  On  Oct.  24  of  the  following  year  he  records : — '  I  visited 
the  French  prisoners  at  Knowle,  and  found  many  of  them  almost 
naked  again.'  lb.  iii.  23.  '  The  prisoners,'  wrote  Hume  {Private 
Corres.  p.  55), '  received  food  from  the  public,  but  it  was  thought  that 
their  own  friends  would  supply  them  with  clothes,  which,  however, 
was  found  after  some  time  to  be  neglected.  The  cry  arose  that  the 
brave  and  gallant  men,  though  enemies,  were  perishing  with  cold  in 
prison  ;  a -subscription  was  set  on  foot ;  great  sums  were  given  by  all 
ranks  of  people ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  national  foolish  prejudices 
against  the  French,  a  remarkable  zeal  ever^'where  appeared  for  this 
charity.  I  am  afraid  that  M.  Rousseau  could  not  have  produced 
many  parallel  instances  among  his  heroes,  the  Greeks;  and  still  fewer 
among  the  Romans.'  Baretti,  in  his  Journey  from  London  to  Genoa 
(i.  62,  66),  after  telling  how  on  all  foreigners,  even  on  a  Turk  wearing 
a  turban, '  the  pretty  appellation  of  French  dog  was  liberally  bestowed 
by  the  London  rabble,'  continues:  —  'I  have  seen  the  populace  of 
England  contribute  as  many  shillings  as  they  could  spare  towards  the 
maintenance  of  the  French  prisoners ;  and  I  have  heard  an  universal 
shout  of  joy  when  their  parliament  voted  ;^  100.000  to  the  Portuguese 
on  hearing  of  the  tremendous  earthquake.' 

proofs 


/ 


4IO  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.  [a.d.  ITGO. 

proofs  that  he  was  ever  awake  to  the  calls  of  humanity  ;  and 
an  account  which  he  gave  in  the  Gentleman  s  Magazine  of 
Mr.  Tytler's  acute  and  able  vindication  of  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots.*  The  generosity  of  Johnson's  feelings  shines  forth  in 
the  following  sentence: — 

'  It  has  now  been  fashionable,  for  near  half  a  century,  to  defame 
and  vilify  the  house  of  Stuart,  and  to  exalt  and  magnify  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth.  The  Stuarts  have  found  few  apologists,  for  the  dead 
cannot  pay  for  praise;  and  who  will,  without  reward,  oppose  the 
tide  of  popularity  ?  Yet  there  remains  still  among  us,  not  wholly 
extinguished,  a  zeal  for  truth,  a  desire  of  establishing  right  in  oppo- 
sition to  fashion'.' 

In  this  year  I  have  not  discovered  a  single  private  letter 
written  by  him  to  any  of  his  friends.  It  should  seem,  how- 
ever, that  he  had  at  this  period  a  floating  intention  of 
writing  a  history  of  the  recent  and  wonderful  successes  of 
the  British  arms  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe ;  for  among  his 
resolutions  or  memorandums,  September  i8,  there  is,  'Send 
for  books  for  Hist,  of  War\'    How  much  it  is  to  be  regretted 

'  Johnson's  Worths,  vi.  8i.  See  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Aug.  i6,  1773, 
where  Johnson  describes  Mary  as  '  such  a  Queen  as  every  man  of  any 
s;allantry  of  spirit  would  have  sacrificed  his  life  for.'  '  There  are,' 
wrote  Hume,  '  three  events  in  our  history  which  may  be  regarded  as 
touch-stones  of  party-men.  An  English  Whig  who  asserts  the  reality 
of  the  popish  plot,  an  Irish  Catholic  who  denies  the  massacre  in  1641, 
and  a  Scotch  Jacobite  who  maintains  the  innocence  of  Queen  Mary, 
must  be  considered  as  men  beyond  the  reach  of  argument  or  reason, 
and  must  be  left  to  their  prejudices.'     H/story  of  Eiii^tand,  ed.  1802, 

V.  504- 

*  Prayers  aiid  Meditations,  p.  42.     BOSWELL.     The  following  is  his 
entry  on  this  day  : — 
'  1760,  Sept.  18. 

Resolved  D[eo]  j[uvante] 
To  combat  notions  of  obligation. 
To  apply  to  study. 
To  reclaim  imagination. 

To  consult  the  resolves  on  Tetty's  coffin.  [In  a  prayer  made  less 
than  a  month  after  his  wife's  death  he  mentions  'the  purposes 
which  I  recorded  in  thy  sight,  when  she  lay  dead  before  me."  //'. 
p.  I2.j 

that 


Aetat.  51.]  Consecrated  lies.  411 

that  this  intention  was  not  fulfilled.  His  majestick  ex- 
pression would  have  carried  down  to  the  latest  posterity  the 
glorious  achievements  of  his  country  with  the  same  fervent 
glow  which  they  produced  on  the  mind  at  the  time.  He 
would  have  been  under  no  temptation  to  deviate  in  any  de- 
gree from  truth,  which  he  held  very  sacred,  or  to  take  a 
licence,  which  a  learned  divine  told  me  he  once  seemed,  in 
a  conversation,  jocularly  to  allow  to  historians. 

*  There  are  (said  he)  inexcusable  lies,  and  consecrated  lies.  For 
instance,  we  are  told  that  on  the  arrival  of  the  news  of  the  unfort- 
unate battle  of  Fontenoy,  every  heart  beat,  and  every  eye  was  in 
tears.  Now  we  know  that  no  man  eat  his  dinner  the  worse',  but 
there  should  have  been  all  this  concern  ;  and  to  say  there  was^ 
(smiling)  may  be  reckoned  a  consecrated  lie.' 

This  year  Mr.  Murphy,  having  thought  himself  ill-treated 
by  the  Reverend  Dr.  Francklin,  who  was  one  of  the  writers 
of  TJie  Critical  Review,  published  an  indignant  vindication 
in  A  Poetical  Epistle  to  Samuel  Johnson,  A.M.  in  which  he 
compliments  Johnson  in  a  just  and  elegant  manner: 

'  Transcendant  Genius  !    whose  prolifick  vein 
Ne'er  knew  the  frigid  poet's  toil  and  pain ; 
To  whom  Apollo  opens  all  his  store. 
And  every  Muse  presents  her  sacred  lore  ; 
Say,  pow'rful  Johnson,  whence  thy  verse  is  fraught 
With  so  much  grace,  such  energy  of  thought ; 


To  rise  early. 
To  study  religion. 
To  go  to  church. 
To  drink  less  strong  liquors. 
To  keep  a  journal. 

To  oppose  laziness,  by  doing  what  is  to  be  done  to-morrow. 
Rise  as  early  as  I  can. 
Send  for  books  for  Hist,  of  War. 
Put  books  in  order. 
Scheme  of  life.' 

'  See  post,  Oct.  19,  1769,  and  May  15,  1783,  for  Johnson's  measure  of 
emotion  by  eating. 

Whether 


412  ArtJmr  Ahirphy.  [a.d.  1760. 


Whether  thy  Juvenal  instructs  the  age 

In  chaster  numbers,  and  new-points  his  rage ; 

Or  fair  Irp:ne  sees,  alas!    too  late 

Her  innocence  exchang'd  for  guilty  state  ; 

Whate'er  you  write,  in  every  golden  line 

Sublimity  and  elegance  combine  ; 

Thy  nervous  phrase  impresses  every  soul. 

While  harmony  gives  rapture  to  the  whole.' 

Again,  towards  the  conclusion  : 

*  Thou  then,  my  friend,  who  see'st  the  dang'rous  strife 
In  which  some  demon  bids  me  plunge  my  life. 
To  the  Aonian  fount  direct  my  feet. 
Say  where  the  Nine  thy  lonely  musings  meet  ? 
Where  warbles  to  thy  ear  the  sacred  throng, 
Thy  moral  sense,  thy  dignity  of  song  ? 
Tell,  for  you  can,  by  what  unerring  art 
You  wake  to  finer  feelings  every  heart  ; 
In  each  bright  page  some  truth  important  give, 
And  bid  to  future  times  thy  Rambler  live'.' 

I  take  this  opportunity  to  relate  the  manner  in  which  an 
acquaintance  first  commenced  between  Dr.  Johnson  and 
Mr.  Murphy.  During  the  publication  of  TJic  Grays-Inn 
Journal,  a  periodical  paper  which  was  successfully  carried 
on  by  Mr.  Murphy  alone,  when  a  very  young  man,  he  hap- 
pened to  be  in  the  country  with  Mr.  Foote;  and  having 
mentioned  that  he  was  obliged  to  go  to  London  in  order  to 
get  ready  for  the  press  one  of  the  numbers  of  that  Journal, 
Foote  said  to  him,  '  You  need  not  go  on  that  account. 
Here  is  a  French  magazine,  in  which  you  will  find  a  very 
pretty  oriental  tale  ;  translate  that,  and  send  it  to  your 
printer.'  Mr.  Murphy  having  read  the  tale,  was  highly 
pleased  with  it,  and  followed  Foote's  advice.  When  he 
returned  to  town,  this  tale  was  pointed  out  to  him  in  The 
Rambler,  from  whence  it  had  been  translated  into  the 
French  magazine.     Mr.  Murphy  then  waited  upon  Johnson, 

'  Mr.  Croker  points  out  that  Murphy's  Epistle  was  an  imitation  of 
Boileau's  Epitre  a  Molicrc. 

to 


Aetat.51.]  Letter  to  Mr.  Langton.  413 

to  explain  this  curious  incident.  His  talents,  literature,  and 
y,'cntlcman-like  manners,  were  soon  perceived  by  Johnson, 
and  a  friendship  was  formed  which  was  never  broken'. 

'To  Bennet  Langton,  Esq.,  at  Langton,  near  Spilsbv, 

Lincolnshire. 
'Dear  Sir, 

'  You  that  travel  about  the  world,  have  more  materials  for 
letters,  than  I  who  stay  at  home  ;  and  should,  therefore,  write  with 
frequency  equal  to  your  opportunities.  I  should  be  glad  to  have 
all  England  surveyed  by  you,  if  you  would  impart  your  observations 


'  The  paper  mentioned  in  the  text  is  No.  38  of  the  second  series  of 
the  Gray's-Iini  Journal,  published  on  June  15,  1754;  which  is  a  trans- 
lation from  the  French  v^ersion  of  Johnson's  Rai)iblcr\  No.  190.  Ma- 
LONE.  Mrs.  Piozzi  relates  how  Murphy  '  used  to  tell  before  Johnson 
of  the  first  time  they  met.  He  found  our  friend  all  covered  with  soot, 
like  a  chimney-sweeper,  in  a  little  room,  with  an  intolerable  heat  and 
strange  smell,  as  if  he  had  been  acting  Lungs  in  the  Alchymist,  making 
aether.  "  Come,  come,"  says  Dr.  Johnson,  "  dear  Mur.  the  story  is 
black  enough  now ;  and  it  was  a  very  happy  day  for  me  that  brought 
you  first  to  my  house,  and  a  very  happy  mistake  about  the  Ramblers."  ' 
Piozzi's  Ajit'c.  p.  235.  Murphy  quotes  her  account,  Murphy's  Jo/inson, 
p.  79.  See  q\?>o  posf,  1770,  where  Dr.  Maxwell  records  in  his  Collectanea 
how  Johnson  'very  much  loved  Arthur  Murphy.'  Miss  Burney  thus 
describes  him  : — '  He  is  tall  and  well-made,  has  a  very  gentleman-iike 
appearance,  and  a  quietness  of  manner  upon  his  first  address  that  to 
me  is  very  pleasing.  His  face  looks  sensible,  and  his  deportment  is 
perfectly  easy  and  polite."  A  few  days  later  she  records  : — '  Mr.  Mur- 
phy was  the  life  of  the  party ;  he  was  in  good  spirits,  and  extremel}' 
entertaining;  he  told  a  million  of  stories  admirably  well.'  Mnie. 
D'Arblays  Diary,  i.  195,  210.  Rogers,  who  knew  Murphy  well,  says 
that  '  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  till  he  received  a  pension  of  ^200 
from  the  King,  he  was  in  great  pecuniary  difficulties.  He  had  eaten 
himself  out  of  every  tavern  from  the  other  side  of  Temple-Bar  to  the 
west  end  of  the  town.'  He  owed  Rogers  a  large  sum  of  money,  which 
he  never  repaid.  '  He  assigned  over  to  me  the  whole  of  his  works ; 
and  I  soon  found  that  he  had  already  disposed  of  them  to  a  book- 
seller. One  thing,'  Rogers  continues,  '  ought  to  be  remembered  to 
his  honour;  an  actress  with  whom  he  had  lived  bequeathed  to  him 
all  her  property,  but  he  gave  up  every  farthing  of  it  to  her  relations.' 
He  was  pensioned  in  1803,  and  he  died  in  1805.  Rogers's  Table-Talk, 
p.  106. 

in 


414  Thomas  Sheridan.  [a.d.  1760. 


in  narratives  as  agreeable  as  your  last.  Knowledge  is  always  to 
be  wished  to  those  who  can  communicate  it  well.  While  you 
have  been  riding  and  running,  and  seeing  the  tombs  of  the  learned, 
and  the  camps  of  the  valiant,  I  have  only  staid  at  home,  and  in- 
tended to  do  great  things,  which  1  have  not  done.  Beau'  went 
away  to  Cheshire,  and  has  not  yet  found  his  way  back.  Chambers 
passed  the  vacation  at  Oxford. 

'  I  am  very  sincerely  solicitous  for  the  preservation  or  curing  of 
Mr.  Langton's  sight,  and  am  glad  that  the  chirurgeon  at  Coventry 
gives  him  so  much  hope.  Mr.  Sharpe  is  of  opinion  that  the 
tedious  maturation  of  the  cataract  is  a  \ul2:ar  crrour,  and  that  it 
may  be  removed  as  soon  as  it  is  formed.  I'liis  notion  deserves  to 
be  considered;  1  doubt  whether  it  be  universally  true;  but  if  it 
be  true  in  some  cases,  and  those  cases  can  be  distinguished,  it 
may  save  a  long  and  uncomfortable  delay. 

'Of  dear  Mrs.  Langton  you  give  me  no  account  ;  which  is  the 
less  friendly,  as  you  know  how  highly  1  think  of  her.  and  how 
much  1  interest  myself  in  her  health.  1  suppose  you  told  her  of 
my  opinion,  and  likewise  suppose  it  was  not  followed  ;  however,  i 
still  believe  it  to  be  right. 

'  Let  me  hear  from  you  again,  wherever  you  are,  or  whatever 
you  are  doing  ;  whether  you  wander  or  sit  still,  plant  trees  or 
make  Rusticks\  play  with  your  sisters  or  muse  alone  ;  and  in  re- 
turn I  will  tell  you  the  success  of  Sheridan\  who  at  this  instant  is 
playing  Cato,  and  has  already  played  Richard  twice.  He  had 
more  company  the  second  than  the  first  night,  and  will  make,  I 
believe,  a  good  figure  in  the  whole,  though  his  faults  seem  to  be 
very  many ;  some  of  natural  deficience,  and  some  of  laborious 
•iffectation.  He  has,  I  think,  no  power  of  assuming  either  that 
dignity  or  elegance  which  some  men,  who  have  little  of  either  in 
common  life,  can  exhibit  on  the  stage.  His  voice  when  strained 
is  unpleasing,  and  when  low  is  not  always  heard.  He  seems  to 
think  too  much  on  the  audience,  and  turns  his  face  too  often  to 
the  galleries*. 

'  Topham  Beauclerk,  Esq.     Boswell. 

*  Essays  with  that  title,  written  about  this  time  by  Mr.  Langton,  but 
not  published.     BoswELL. 

*  Thomas  Sheridan,  bom  1721,  died  1788.  He  was  the  son  of  Swift's 
friend,  and  the  father  of  R.  B.  Sheridan  (who  was  born  in  17^1),  and 
the  great-great-grandfather  of  the  present  Earl  of  DufFerin. 

*  Sheridan  was  acting  in  Garrick's  Company,  generally  on  the  nights 

*  However. 


Aetat.  52.]  Mr.  Rolt.  4 1  5 

'  However,  I  wish  him  well ;  and  among  other  reasons,  becauiie 
I  like  his  wife'. 

*  Make  haste  to  wTite  to,  dear  Sir, 

'  Your  most  affectionate  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'Oct.  i8.  1760.' 

1761  :  ^TAT.  52.] — In  1761  Johnson  appears  to  have 
done  little.  He  was  still,  no  doubt,  proceeding  in  his  edition 
of  SJiak spear e ;  but  what  advances  he  made  in  it  cannot  be 
ascertained.  He  certainly  was  at  this  time  not  active ;  for 
in  his  scrupulous  examination  of  himself  on  Easter  eve,  he 
laments,  in  his  too  rigorous  mode  of  censuring  his  own  con. 
duct,  that  his  life,  since  the  communion  of  the  preceding 
Easter,  had  been  '  dissipated  and  useless^'  He.  however, 
contributed  this  year  the  Preface*  to  Rolt's  Dictionary  of 
Trade  and  Commerce,  in  which  he  displays  such  a  clear  and 
comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  subject,  as  might  lead  the 
reader  to  think  that  its  authour  had  devoted  all  his  life  to 
it.  I  asked  him  whether  he  knew  much  of  Rolt,  and  of  his 
work.  '  Sir,  (said  he)  I  never  saw  the  man,  and  never  read 
the  book.  The  booksellers  wanted  a  Preface  to  a  Dictionary 
of  Trade  and  Commerce.  I  knew  very  well  what  such  a 
Dictionary  should  be,  and  wrote  a  Preface  accordingly.' 
Rolt,  who  wrote  a  great  deal  for  the  booksellers,  was,  as 
Johnson  told  me,  a  singular  character'.  Though  not  in  the 
least  acquainted  with  him,  he  used  to  say,  '  I  am  just  come 
from  Sam.  Johnson.'  This  was  a  sufficient  specimen  of  his 
vanity  and  impudence.     But  he  gave  a  more  eminent  proof 


on  which  Garrick  did  not  appear.  Davies's  Garrick.  i.  299.  Johnson 
criticises  his  reading.  j?^c;i-/,  April  18,  1783. 

'  Mrs.  Sheridan  was  authour  of  Memoirs  of  Miss  Sydney  Bidditlph, 
a  nov'el  of  great  merit,  and  of  some  other  pieces. — See  her  character. 
post,  beginning  of  1763.     Boswei.l. 

"  Prayers  and  Meditations,  p.  44.  BoswELL.  '  1761.  Easter  Eve. 
Since  the  communion  of  last  Easter  I  have  led  a  life  so  dissipated 
and  useless,  and  my  terrours  and  perplexities  have  so  much  increased, 
that  I  am  under  great  depression  and  discouragement.' 

•  See/fl.f/,  April  6,  1775. 

of 


41 6  Instances  of  literary  fraud.  [a. d.  1761. 

of  it  in  our  sister  kingdom,  as  Dr.  Johnson  informed  me. 
When  Akenside's  Pleasures  of  the  luiagination  first  came 
out,  he  did  not  put  his  name  to  the  poem.  Rolt  went  over 
to  Dublin,  published  an  edition  of  it,  and  put  his  own  name 
to  it.  Upon  the  fame  of  this  he  lived  for  several  months, 
being  entertained  at  the  best  tables  as  the  ingenious  Mr. 
Rolt'.'  His  conversation  indeed,  did  not  discover  much  of 
the  fire  of  a  poet ,  but  it  was  recollected,  that  both  Addi- 
son and  Thomson  were  equally  dull  till  excited  by  wine. 
Akenside  having  been  informed  of  this  imposition,  vindi- 
cated his  right  by  publishing  the  poem  with  its  real  au- 
thour's  name.  Several  instances  of  such  literary  fraud  have 
been  detected.  The  Reverend  Dr.  Campbell,  of  St.  An- 
drew's, wrote  An  Enquiry  into  the  original  of  Moral  Virtue , 
the  manuscript  of  which  he  sent  to  Mr.  Innes,  a  clergyman 
in  England,  who  was  his  countryman  and  acquaintance. 
Innes  published  it  with  his  own  name  to  it ;  and  before  the 
imposition  was  discovered,  obtained  considerable  promotion, 
as  a  reward  of  his  merit'.     The  celebrated  Dr.  Hugh  Blair, 


*  I  have  had  inquiry  made  in  Ireland  as  to  this  story,  but  do  not 
find  it  recollected  there.  I  give  it  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
to  which  may  be  added  that  of  the  Biographical  Dictionaiy,  and 
Biographia  Dramatica ;  in  both  of  which  it  has  stood  many  years. 
Mr.  Malone  observes,  that  the  truth  probably  is,  not  that  an  edition 
was  published  with  Rolt's  name  in  the  title-page,  but,  that  the  poem 
being  then  anonymous,  Rolt  acquiesced  in  its  being  attributed  to  him 
in  conversation.     Boswell. 

*  I  have  both  the  books.  Innes  was  the  clergyman  who  brought 
Psalmanazar  to  England,  and  was  an  accomplice  in  his  extraordinary 
fiction.  Boswell.  It  was  in  1728  that  Innes,  who  was  a  Doctor  of 
Divinity  and  Preacher-Assistant  at  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  pub- 
lished this  book.  In  his  impudent  Dedication  to  Lord  Chancellor 
King  he  says  that  'were  matters  once  brought  to  the  melancholy  pass 
that  mankind  should  become  proselytes  to  such  impious  delusions ' 
as  Mandeville  taught, '  punishments  must  be  annexed  to  virtue  and 
rewards  to  vice.'  It  was  not  till  1730  that  Dr.  Campbell  'laid  open 
this  imposture.'  Preface,  p.  xxxi.  Though  he  was  Professor  of  Ec- 
clesiastical History  in  St.  Andrew's,  yet  he  had  not,  it  should  seem, 
heard  of  the  fraud  till  then  :  so  remote  was  Scotland  from  London  in 

and 


Aetat.  52.]  ThE    MaN   OF  FeELING.  417 

and  his  cousin  Mr.  George  Bannatine,  when  students  in 
divinity,  wrote  a  poem,  entitled,  The  Res7irrectio7i,  copies  of 
which  were  handed  about  in  manuscript.  They  were,  at 
length,  very  much  surprised  to  see  a  pompous  edition  of  it 
in  folio,  dedicated  to  the  Princess  Dowager  of  Wales,  by  a 
Dr.  Douglas,  as  his  own.  Some  years  ago  a  little  novel,  en- 
titled The  Alan  of  Feeling,  was  assumed  by  Mr.  Eccles,  a 
young  Irish  clergyman,  who  was  afterwards  drowned  near 
Bath'.  He  had  been  at  the  pains  to  transcribe  the  whole 
book,  with  blottings,  interlineations,  and  corrections,  that  it 
might  be  shewn  to  several  people  as  an  original.  It  was,  in 
truth,  the  production  of  Mr.  Henry  Mackenzie,  an  Attorney 
in  the  Exchequer  at  Edinburgh,  who  is  the  authour  of 
several  other  ingenious  pieces ;  but  the  belief  with  regard  to 
Mr.  Eccles  became  so  general,  that  it  was  thought  necessary 
for  Messieurs  Strahan  and  Cadell  to  publish  an  advertise- 
ment in  the  newspapers,  contradicting  the  report,  and  men- 
tioning that  they  purchased  the  copy-right  of  Mr.  Macken- 
zie^  I  can  conceive  this  kind  of  fraud  to  be  very  easily 
practised  with  successful  effrontery.  The  Filiation  of  a 
literary  performance  is  difficult  of  proof ;  seldom  is  there 
any  witness  present  at  its  birth.  A  man,  either  in  confidence 
or  Dy  improper  means,  obtains  possession  of  a  copy  of  it  in 

those  days.  It  was  not  till  1733  that  he  published  his  own  edition. 
For  Psalmanazar,  see  post,  April  18,  1778. 

*  '  Died,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Eccles,  at  Bath.  In  attempting  to  save  a  boy, 
whom  he  saw  sinking  in  the  Avon,  he,  together  with  the  youth,  were 
both  drowned.'  Gent.  Mag.  Aug.  15,  1777.  And  in  the  magazine  for 
the  next  month  are  some  verses  on  this  event,  with  an  epitaph,  of 
which  the  first  line  is, 

'Beneath  this  stone  the  "Man  of  Feeling"  lies.'     Croker., 

*  '  Harry  Mackenzie,'  wrote  Scott  in  18 14,  '  never  put  his  name  in  a 
title-page  till  the  last  edition  of  his  works.'  Lockhart's  Scott,  iv.  178. 
He  wrote  also  T/ie  Majt  of  the  World,  which  Johnson  '  looked  at,  but 
thought  there  was  nothing  in  it.'  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Oct.  2,  1773. 
Scott,  however,  called  it  'a  very  pathetic  tale.'  Croker 's  Boswell, 
p.  359.  Burns,  writing  of  his  twenty-third  year,  says:  — '  Tristram 
Shandy  and  the  Man  of  Feeling  were  my  bosom  favourites.'  Currie's 
Life  of  Burns,  ed.  1846,  p.  21. 

I. — 27  manuscript, 


4l8  Letter  to  Mr.  Baretti.  [a.d.  1761. 

manuscript,  and  boldly  publishes  it  as  his  own.  The  true 
authour,  in  many  cases,  may  not  be  able  to  make  his  title 
clear.  Johnson,  indeed,  from  the  peculiar  features  of  his  lit- 
erary offspring,  might  bid  defiance  to  any  attempt  to  appro- 
priate them  to  others. 

'  But  Shakspeare's  magick  could  not  copied  be, 
Within  that  circle  none  durst  walk  but  he'  !' 

Me  this  year  lent  his  friendly  assistance  to  correct  and 
improve  a  pamphlet  written  by  Mr.  Gwyn,  the  architect,  en- 
titled. Thoughts  on  the  Coro7iation  of  George  III." 

Johnson  had  now  for  some  years  admitted  Mr.  Baretti 
to  his  intimacy  ;  nor  did  their  friendship  cease  upon  their 
being  separated  by  Baretti's  revisiting  his  native  country,  as 
appears  from  Johnson's  letters  to  him. 

'To  Mr.  Joseph  Baretti,  at  MII,AN^ 
'You  reproach  me  very  often  with  parsimony  of  writing:  but 
you  may  discover  by  the  extent  of  my  paper,  that  I  design  to  rec- 
ompence  rarity  by  length.  A  short  letter  to  a  distant  friend  is, 
in  my  opinion,  an  insult  like  that  of  a  slight  bow  or  cursory  salu- 
tation ; — a  proof  of  unwillingness  to  do  much,  even  where  there 
is  a  necessity  of  doing  something.  Yet  it  must  be  remembered, 
that  he  who  continues  the  same  course  of  life  in  the  same  place, 
will  have  little  to  tell.  One  week  and  one  year  are  very  like  one 
another.  The  silent  changes  made  by  time  are  not  always  per- 
ceived ;  and  if  they  are  not  perceived,  cannot  be  recounted.  I 
have  risen  and  lain  down,  talked  and  mused,  while  you  have  roved 
over  a  considerable  part  of  Europe^ ;  yet  I  have  not  envied  my 
Baretti  any  of  his  pleasures,  though,  perhaps,  I  have  envied  others 

'  From  the  Prologue  to  Dryden's  adaptation  of  T/if  Tempest. 

*  The  originals  of  Dr.  Johnson's  three  letters  to  Mr.  Baretti,  which 
are  among  the  very  best  he  ever  wrote,  were  communicated  to  the 
proprietors  of  that  instructive  and  elegant  monthly  miscellany,  TJie 
European  Magazine,  in  which  they  first  appeared.     Boswell. 

'  Baretti  left  London  for  Lisbon  on  Aug.  14,  1760.  He  went  through 
Portugal,  Spain,  and  France  to  Antibes,  whence  he  went  by  sea  to 
Genoa,  where  he  arrived  on  Nov.  18.  In  1770  he  published  a  lively 
account  of  his  travels  under  the  title  of  A  Journey  from  London  to 
Genoa, 

his 


Aetat.  52.]    Barettts  knowledge  of  languages.  419 

his  company  :  and  I  am  glad  to  have  other  nations  made  acquaint- 
ed with  the  character  of  the  English,  by  a  traveller  who  has  so 
nicely  inspected  our  manners,  and  so  successfully  studied  our 
literature.  I  received  your  kind  letter  from  Falmouth,  in  which 
you  gave  me  notice  of  your  departure  for  Lisbon,  and  another 
from  Lisbon,  in  which  you  told  me,  that  you  were  to  leave  Portu- 
gal in  a  few  days.  To  either  of  these  how  could  any  answer  be 
returned  ?  I  have  had  a  third  from  Turin,  complaining  that  I  have 
not  answered  the  former.  Your  English  style  still  continues  in 
its  purity  and  vigour.  With  vigour  your  genius  will  supply  it ;  but 
its  purity  must  be  continued  by  close  attention.  To  use  two  lan- 
guages familiarly,  and  without  contaminating  one  by  the  other,  is 
very  difificult :  and  to  use  more  than  two  is  hardly  to  be  hoped'. 
The  praises  which  some  have  received  for  their  multiplicity  of 
languages,  may  be  sufficient  to  excite  industry,  but  can  hardly 
generate  confidence. 

'  I  know  not  whether  I  can  heartily  rejoice  at  the  kind  reception 
which  you  have  found,  or  at  tJie  popularity  to  which  you  are  ex- 
'ilted.  1  ani  willing  that  your  merit  should  be  distinguished  ;  but 
cannot  wish  that  your  afifections  may  be  gained.  I  would  have 
you  happy  wherever  you  are  :  yet  I  would  have  you  wish  to  return 
to  England.  If  ever  you  visit  us  again,  you  will  find  the  kindness 
of  your  friends  undiminished.  To  tell  you  how  many  enquiries 
are  made  after  you,  would  be  tedious,  or  if  not  tedious,  would 
be  vain  ;  because  you  may  be  told  in  a  very  few  words,  that  all 
who  knew  you  wish  you  well ;  and  that  all  that  you  embraced 
at  your  departure,  will  caress  you  at  your  return  :  therefore  do  not 
let  Italian  academicians  nor  Italian  ladies  drive  us  from  your 
thoughts.     You  may  find  among  us  what  you  will  leave  behind, 

'  Malone  says  of  Baretti  that  'he  was  certainly  a  man  of  extraordi- 
nary talents,  and  perhaps  no  one  ever  made  himself  so  completely 
master  of  a  foreign  language  as  he  did  of  English.*  Prior's  Malone, 
p.  392.  Mrs.  Piozzi  gives  the  following  '  instance  of  his  skill  in  our 
low  street  language.  Walking  in  a  field  near  Chelsea  he  met  a  fel- 
low, who,  suspecting  him  from  dress  and  manner  to  be  a  foreigner, 
said  sneeringly,  "  Come,  Sir,  will  you  show  me  the  way  to  France  ?" 
"No,  Sir,"  says  Baretti  instantly,  "but  I  will  show  you  the  way  to 
Tyburn."  *  He  travelled  with  her  in  France.  '  Oh  how  he  would  court 
the  maids  at  the  inns  abroad,  abuse  the  men  perhaps,  and  that  with  a 
facility  not  to  be  exceeded,  as  they  all  confessed,  by  any  of  the  natives. 
But  so  he  could  in  Spain,  I  find.'     Ha3rward's  Piozzi,  ii.  347. 

soft 


420  The  Exhibitiofi  of  Pictures.         [a.d.  1761. 

soft  smiles  and  easy  sonnets.  Yet  I  shall  not  wonder  if  all  our 
invitations  should  be  rejected ;  for  there  is  a  pleasure  in  being 
considerable  at  home,  which  is  not  easily  resisted. 

'By  conducting  Mr.  Southwell'  to  Venice,  you  fulfilled,  1  know, 
the  original  contract :  yet  I  would  wish  you  not  wholly  to  lose  him 
from  your  notice,  but  to  recommend  him  to  such  acquaintance  as 
may  best  secure  him  from  suffering  by  his  own  follies,  and  to  take 
such  general  care  both  of  his  safety  and  his  interest  as  may  come 
within  your  power.  His  relations  will  thank  you  for  any  such 
gratuitous  attention  :  at  least  they  will  not  blame  you  for  any  evil 
that  may  happen,  whether  they  thank  you  or  not  for  any  good. 

'  You  know  that  we  have  a  new  King  and  a  new  Parliament. 
Of  the  new  Parliament  Fitzherbert'^  is  a  member.  We  were  so 
weary  of  our  old  King,  that  we  are  much  pleased  with  his  succes- 
sor ;  of  whom  we  are  so  much  inclined  to  hope  great  things,  that 
most  of  us  begin  already  to  believe  them.  The  young  man  is 
hitherto  blameless ;  but  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  expect  much 
from  the  immaturity  of  juvenile  years,  and  the  ignorance  of  prince- 
ly education.  He  has  been  long  in  the  hands  of  the  Scots,  and 
has  already  favoured  them  more  than  the  English  will  contentedly 
endure.  But,  perhaps,  he  scarcely  knows  whom  he  has  distin- 
guished, or  whom  he  has  disgusted. 

'  The  Artists  have  instituted  a  yearly  Exhibition''  of  pictures 
and  statues,  in  imitation,  as  I  am  told,  of  foreign  academies.  This 
year  was  the  second  Exhibition.     They  please  themselves  much 


'  Johnson  was  intimate  with  Lord  Southwell,  ante,  p.  281.  It  seems 
unlikely  that  Baretti  merely  conducted  Mr.  Southwell  from  Turin  to 
Venice ;  yet  there  is  not  a  line  in  his  Journey  to  show  that  any  Eng- 
lishman accompanied  him  from  London  to  Turin. 

'  See  ante,  p.  405,  note  3. 

'  The  first  of  these  annual  cxliibilions  was  opened  on  April  2\, 
1760.  at  the  Room  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  in  the  Strand.  'As  a  con- 
sequence of  their  success,  grew  the  incorporation  of  a  Society  of 
Artists  in  1765,  by  secession  from  which  finally  was  constituted  the 
Royal  Academy  [in  Dec.  1768].'  Taylor's  Reynolds,  i.  179.  For  the 
third  exhibition  Johnson  wrote  the  Preface  to  the  Catalogue.  In 
this,  speaking  for  the  Committee  of  the  Artists,  he  says : — '  The  pur- 
pose of  this  Exhibition  is  not  to  enrich  the  artist,  but  to  advance  the 
art;  the  eminent  are  not  flattered  with  preference,  nor  the  obscure  in- 
sulted with  contempt ;  whoever  hopes  to  deserve  public  favour  is  here 
invited  to  display  his  merit.'     Northcote's  Reynolds,  i.  loi. 

with 


Aetat.52.]     yohnsotis  indifference  to  pictures.  421 

with  the  multitude  of  spectators,  and  imagine  that  the  English 
School  will  rise  in  reputation.  Reynolds  is  without  a  rival,  and 
continues  to  add  thousands  to  thousands,  which  he  deserves, 
among  other  excellencies,  by  retaining  his  kindness  for  Baretti. 
This  Exhibition  has  filled  the  heads  of  the  Artists  and  lovers  of 
art.  Surely  life,  if  it  be  not  long,  is  tedious,  since  we  are  forced 
to  call  in  the  assistance  of  so  many  trifles'  to  rid  us  of  our  time, 
of  that  time  which  never  can  return. 


'  Hawkins  {Lz/e,  p.  318)  says  that  Johnson  told  him  'that  in  his 
whole  life  he  was  nev^er  capable  of  discerning  the  least  resemblance 
of  any  kind  between  a  picture  and  the  subject  it  was  intended  to  rep- 
resent.' This,  however,  must  have  been  an  exaggeration  on  the  part 
either  of  Hawkins  or  Johnson.  His  general  ignorance  of  art  is  shown 
by  Mrs.  Piozzi  (Anec.  p.  98) : — '  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  mentioned  some 
picture  as  excellent.  "  It  has  often  grieved  me.  Sir,"  said  Mr.  John- 
son, "to  see  so  much  mind  as  the  science  of  painting  requires,  laid 
out  upon  such  perishable  materials :  why  do  not  you  oftener  make 
use  of  copper.'  I  could  wish  your  superiority  in  the  art  you  profess 
to  be  preserved  in  stuff  more  durable  than  canvas."  Sir  Joshua  urged 
the  difficulty  of  procuring  a  plate  large  enough  for  historical  subjects. 
"  What  foppish  obstacles  are  these !"  exclaims  on  a  sudden  Dr.  John- 
son. "  Here  is  Thrale  has  a  thousand  tun  of  copper ;  you  may  paint 
it  all  round  if  you  will,  I  suppose ;  it  will  serve  him  to  brew  in  after- 
wards. Will  it  not.  Sir.'"  to  my  husband  who  sat  by.  Indeed  his 
utter  scorn  of  painting  was  such,  that  I  have  heard  him  say,  that  he 
should  sit  very  quietly  in  a  room  hung  round  with  the  works  of  the 
greatest  masters,  and  never  feel  the  slightest  disposition  to  turn  them, 
if  their  backs  were  outermost,  unless  it  might  be  for  the  sake  of  tell- 
ing Sir  Joshua  that  he  /lad  turned  them.'  Such  a  remark  of  John- 
son's must  not,  however,  be  taken  too  strictly.  He  often  spoke  at 
random,  often  with  exaggeration.  'There  is  in  many  minds  a  kind 
of  vanity  exerted  to  the  disadvantage  of  themselves.'  This  reflection 
of  his  is  the  opening  sentence  to  the  number  of  T//e  Idler  (No.  45)  in 
which  he  thus  writes  about  portrait  -  painting  :  —  'Genius  is  chiefly 
exerted  in  historical  pictures ;  and  the  art  of  the  painter  of  portraits 
is  often  lost  in  the  obscurity  of  his  subject.  But  it  is  in  painting  as 
in  life ;  what  is  greatest  is  not  always  best.  I  should  grieve  to  see 
Reynolds  transfer  to  heroes  and  to  goddesses,  to  empty  splendour 
and  to  airy  fiction,  that  art  which  is  now  employed  in  diffusing  friend- 
ship, in  reviving  tenderness,  in  quickening  the  affections  of  the  absent, 
and  continuing  the  presence  of  the  dead.'  It  is  recorded  in  Johnson's 
Works,  (1787)  xi.  208,  that  'Johnson,  talking  with  some  persons  about 

*  I  know 


42  2  Monastick  life.  [a. d.  1761. 

*  I  know  my  Baretti  will  not  be  satisfied  with  a  letter  in  which 
T  give  him  no  account  of  myself :  yet  what  account  shall  I  give 
him  ?  I  have  not,  since  the  day  of  our  separation,  suffered  or 
done  any  thing  considerable.  The  only  change  in  my  way  of  life 
is,  that  I  have  frequented  the  theatre  more  than  in  former  seasons. 
But  I  have  gone  thither  only  to  escape  from  myself.  We  have 
had  many  new  farces,  and  the  comedy  called  The  jfealoiis  Wife\ 
which,  though  not  written  with  much  genius,  was  yet  so  well 
adapted  to  the  stage,  and  so  well  exhibited  by  the  actors,  that  it 
was  crowded  for  near  twenty  nights.  I  am  digressing  from  myself 
to  the  play-house  ;  but  a  barren  plan  must  be  filled  with  episodes. 
Of  myself  I  have  nothing  to  say,  but  that  I  have  hitherto  lived 
without  the  concurrence  of  my  own  judgment ;  yet  I  continue  to 
flatter  myself,  that,  when  you  return,  you  will  find  me  mended.  I 
do  not  wonder  that,  where  the  monastick  life  is  permitted,  every 
order  finds  votaries,  and  every  monastery  inhabitants.  Men  will 
submit  to  any  rule,  by  which  they  may  be  exempted  from  the 
tyranny  of  caprice  and  of  chance.  They  are  glad  to  supply  by  ex- 
ternal authority  their  own  want  of  constancy  and  resolution,  and 
court  the  government  of  others,  when  long  experience  has  con- 
vinced them  of  their  own  inability  to  govern  themselves*.     If  I 


allegorical  painting  said,  "  I  had  rather  see  the  portrait  of  a  dog  that 
I  know  than  all  the  allegorical  paintings  they  can  show  me  in  the 
world."'  He  bought  prints  of  Burke,  Dyer,  and  Goldsmith — 'Good 
impressions'  he  said  to  hang  in  a  little  room  that  he  was  fitting  up 
with  prints.  Croker's  Boswell,  p.  639.  Among  his  effects  that  were 
sold  after  his  death  were  'sixty-one  portraits  framed  and  glazed. '/£>.?/, 
under  Dec.  9,  1784.  When  he  was  at  Paris,  and  saw  the  picture-gal- 
lery at  the  Palais  Royal,  he  entered  in  his  Diary : — '  I  thought  the 
pictures  of  Raphael  fine ;'  post,  Oct.  16,  1775.  The  philosopher  Hume 
was  more  insensible  even  than  Johnson.  Dr.  J.  H.  Burton  says  : — '  It 
does  not  appear  from  any  incident  in  his  life,  or  allusions  in  his  let- 
ters, which  I  can  remember,  that  he  had  ever  really  admired  a  picture 
or  a  statue.'     Life  of  Hume,  ii.  134. 

*  By  Colman.  'There  is  nothing  else  new,' wrote  Horace  Walpole 
on  March  7.  1761  {Letters,  iii.  382),  'but  a  very  indifferent  play,  called 
The  Jealous  Wife,  so  well  acted  as  to  have  succeeded  greatly.' 

'  In  Chap.  47  of  Rasselas  Johnson  had  lately  considered  monastic 
life.  Imlac  says  of  the  monks  : — '  Their  time  is  regularly  distributed , 
one  duty  succeeds  another,  so  that  they  are  not  left  open  to  the  dis- 
traction of  unguided  choice,  nor  lost  in  the  shades  of  listless  inactiv- 

werc 


Aetat.53.]  Monastick  life.  423 

were  to  visit  Italy,  my  curiosity  would  be  more  attracted  by  con- 
vents than  by  palaces  :  though  I  am  afraid  that  I  should  find  ex- 
pectation in  both  places  equally  disappointed,  and  life  in  both 
places  supported  with  impatience  and  quitted  with  reluctance. 
That  it  must  be  so  soon  quitted,  is  a  powerful  remedy  against  im- 
patience ;  but  what  shall  free  us  from  reluctance  ?  Those  who 
have  endeavoured  to  teach  us  to  die  well,  have  taught  few  to  die 
willingly :  yet  I  cannot  but  hope  that  a  good  life  might  end  at  last 
in  a  contented  death. 

'  You  see  to  what  a  train  of  thought  I  am  drawn  by  the  mention 
of  myself.  Let  me  now  turn  my  attention  upon  you.  I  hope  you 
take  care  to  keep  an  exact  journal,  and  to  register  all  occurrences 
and  observations'  ;  for  your  friends  here  expect  such  a  book  of 
travels  as  has  not  been  often  seen.  You  have  given  us  good 
specimens  in  your  letters  from  Lisbon.  I  wish  you  had  staid 
longer  in  Spain",  for  no  country  is  less  known  to  the  rest  of 
Europe ;  but  the  quickness  of  your  discernment  must  make 
amends  for  the  celerity  of  your  motions.  He  that  knows  which 
way  to  direct  his  view,  sees  much  in  a  little  time. 

'  Write  to  me  very  often,  and  I  will  not  neglect  to  write  to  you; 

and  I  may,  perhaps,  in  time,  get  something  to  write  :  at  least,  you 

will  know  by  my  letters,  whatever  else  they  may  have  or  want, 

that  I  continue  to  be 

'  Your  most  aiTectionate  friend, 

T       ,       T  /:  ■, .  'Sam.  Johnson.' 

'London,  June  10,1761^.  -^ 

ity.  ...  He  that  lives  well  in  the  world  is  better  than  he  that  lives 
in  a  monastery.  But  perhaps  every  one  is  not  able  to  stem  the 
temptations  of  publick  life ;  and,  if  he  cannot  conquer,  he  may  prop- 
erly retreat."  See  2\%o  post,  March  15,  1776,  and  Boswell's  Ht^hrides, 
Aug.  19.  1773- 

'  Baretti,  in  the  preface  to  his  Journey  (p.vi.),  says  that  the  method 
of  the  book  was  due  to  Dr.  Johnson.  '  It  was  he  that  exhorted  me  to 
write  daily,  and  with  all  possible  minuteness;  it  was  he  that  pointed 
out  the  topics  which  would  most  interest  and  most  delight  in  a  future 
publication.' 

«  He  advised  Boswell  to  go  to  Spain.  Post,  June  25  and  July  26, 
1763. 

"•"  Dr.  Percy  records  that  'the  first  visit  Goldsmith  ever  received 
from  Johnson  was  on  May  31,  1761,  [ten  days  before  this  letter  was 
written]  when  he  gave  an  invitation  to  him,  and  much  other  company, 
many  of  them  literary  men,  to  a  supper  in  his  lodgings  in  Wine  Office 

1762  : 


424  Lhronology  of  tlie  Scriptures.        [a.d.  1762. 

1762:  .4iTAT.  53.] — In  1762  he  wrote  for  the  Reverend 
Dr.  Kennedy,  Rector  of  Bradley  in  Derbyshire,  in  a  strain  of 
very  courtly  elegance,  a  Dedication  to  the  King*  of  that 
gentleman's  work,  entitled,  y^  Complete  Systejii  of  Astronom- 
ical Chronology,  unfolding  the  Scriptiires.  He  had  certainly 
looked  at  this  work  before  it  was  printed  ;  for  the  conclud- 
ing paragraph  is  undoubtedly  of  his  composition,  of  which 
let  my  readers  judge: 

'Thus  have  1  endeavoured  to  free  Religion  and  History  from 
the  darkness  of  a  disputed  and  uncertain  chronology ;  from  diffi- 
culties which  have  hitherto  appeared  insuperable,  and  darkness 
which  no  luminary  of  learning  has  hitherto  been  able  to  dissipate. 
1  have  established  the  truth  of  the  Mosaical  account,  by  evidence 
which  no  transcription  can  corrupt,  no  negligence  can  lose,  and  no 
interest  can  pervert.  I  have  shewn  that  the  universe  bears  wit- 
ness to  the  inspiration  of  its  historian,  by  the  revolution  of  its 
orbs  and  the  succession  of  its  seasons ;  that  the  stars  in  their 
courses  fight  against^  incredulity,  that  the  works  of  God  give  hourly 
confirmation  to  the  law,  the  prophets,  and  the  gospel,  of  which  ofte 
day  telleth  another,  and  one  flight  certifieth  another" :  and  that  the  va- 
lidity of  the  sacred  writings  can  never  be  denied,  while  the  moon 
shall  increase  and  wane,  and  the  sun  shall  know  his  going  down^' 

He  this  year  wrote  also  the  Dedicationf  to  the  Earl  of 
Middlesex  of  Mrs.  Lennox's  Female  Quixote*,  and  the  Pref- 
ace to  the  Catalogue  of  the  Artists'  Exhibition.^ 

Court,  Fleet  Street.  Percy  being  intimate  with  Johnson,  was  desired 
to  call  upon  him  and  take  him  with  him.  As  they  went  together  the 
former  was  much  struck  with  the  studied  neatness  of  Johnson's  dress. 
He  had  on  a  new  suit  of  clothes,  a  new  wig  nicely  powdered,  and 
everything  about  him  so  perfectly  dissimilar  from  his  usual  appearance 
that  his  companion  could  not  help  inquiring  the  cause  of  this  singu- 
lar transformation.  "  Why,  Sir,"  said  Johnson,  "  I  hear  that  Gold- 
smith, who  is  a  very  great  sloven,  justifies  his  disregard  of  cleanliness 
and  decency  by  quoting  my  practice,  and  I  am  desirous  this  night  to 
show  him  a  better  example."  '     Goldsmith's  Misc.  Works,  i.  62. 

'  Judges,  v.  20.  '  Psalms,  .xix.  2.  '  Psalms,  civ.  19. 

*  Boswell  is  ten  years  out  in  his  date.  This  work  was  published  in 
1752.  The  review  of  it  in  the  Gent.  Mag.iox  that  year,  p.  146,  was,  I 
believe,  by  Johnson, 

The 


Aetat.  53.]  The  Care  of  living.  425 

The  following  letter,  which,  on  account  of  its  intrinsick 
merit,  it  would  have  been  unjust  both  to  Johnson  and  the 
publick  to  have  with-held,  was  obtained  for  me  by  the  solici- 
tation of  my  friend  Mr.  Seward  : 

'  To  Dr.  Staunton,  (now  Sir  George  Staunton,  Baronet'). 

'Dear  Sir, 

'  I  make  haste  to  answer  your  kind  letter,  in  hope  of  hearing 
again  from  you  before  you  leave  us.  I  cannot  but  regret  that  a 
man  of  your  qualifications  should  find  it  necessary  to  seek  an  es- 
tablishment in  Guadaloupe,  which  if  a  peace  should  restore  to  the 
French^,  I  shall  think  it  some  alleviation  of  the  loss,  that  it  must 
restore  likewise  Dr.  Staunton  to  the  English. 

'It  is  a  melancholy  consideration,  that  so  much  of  our  time  is 
necessarily  to  be  spent  upon  the  care  of  living,  and  that  we  can 
seldom  obtain  ease  in  one  respect  but  by  resigning  it  in  another ; 
yet  I  suppose  we  are  by  this  dispensation  not  less  happy  in  the 
whole,  than  if  the  spontaneous  bounty  of  Nature  poured  all  that 
we  want  into  our  hands.  A  few,  if  they  were  thus  left  to  them- 
selves, would,  perhaps,  spend  their  time  in  laudable  pursuits ;  but 
the  greater  part  would  prey  upon  the  quiet  of  each  other,  or,  in 
the  want  of  other  objects,  would  prey  upon  themselves. 

'  This,  however,  is  our  condition,  which  we  must  improve  and 
solace  as  we  can  :  and  though  we  cannot  choose  always  our  place 
of  residence,  we  may  in  every  place  find  rational  amusements,  and 
possess  in  every  place  the  comforts  of  piety  and  a  pure  conscience. 

'  In  America  there  is  little  to  be  observed  except  natural  curiosi- 
ties. The  new  world  must  have  many  vegetables  and  animals 
with  which  philosophers  are  but  little  acquainted.  I  hope  you 
will  furnish  yourself  with  some  books  of  natural  history,  and  some 
glasses  and  other  instruments  of  observation.  Trust  as  little  as 
you  can  to  report ;  examine  all  you  can  by  your  own  senses.  I  do 
not  doubt  but  you  will  be  able  to  add  much  to  knowledge,  and, 
perhaps,  to  medicine.  Wild  nations  trust  to  simples  ;  and,  per- 
haps, the  Peruvian  bark  is  not  the  only  specifick  which  those  ex- 
tensive regions  may  afford  us. 

'  Wherever  you  are,  and  whatever  be   your  fortune,  be  certain, 

'  He  accompanied  Lord  Macartney  on  his  embassy  to  China  in 
1792.     In  1797  he  published  his  Account  of  the  Evibassy. 

'  It  was  taken  in  1759,  and  restored  to  France  in  1763.  Penny  Cyclo. 
xi.  463. 

dear 


426  Improper  expectations.  | a. p.  1762. 

dear  Sir,  that  you  carry  with  you  my  kind  wishes  ;  and  that  whether 
you  return  hither,  or  stay  in  the  other  hemisphere',  to  hear  that 
you  are  happy  will  give  pleasure  to.  Sir, 

'  Your  most  affectionate  humble  servant. 
•Junei..762;  '  Sam.  Johnson.' 

A  lady  having  at  this  time  solicited  him  to  obtain  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury's  patronage  to  have  her  son  sent 
to  the  University,  one  of  those  solicitations  which  are  too 
frequent,  where  people,  anxious  for  a  particular  object,  do 
not  consider  propriety,  or  the  opportunity  which  the  persons 
whom  they  solicit  have  to  assist  them,  he  wrote  to  her  the 
following  answer,  with  a  copy  of  which  I  am  favoured  by 
the  Reverend  Dr.  Farmer^  Master  of  Emanuel  College, 
Cambridge. 

'  Madam, 

'  I  hope  you  will  believe  that  my  delay  in  answering  your  letter 
could  proceed  only  from  my  unwillingness  to  destroy  any  hope 
that  you  had  formed.  Hope  is  itself  a  species  of  happiness,  and, 
perhaps,  the  chief  happiness  which  this  world  affords' :  but,  like  all 
other  pleasures  immoderately  enjoyed,  the  excesses  of  hope  must 
be  expiated  by  pain  ;  and  expectations  improperly  indulged,  must 
end  in  disappointment.  If  it  be  asked,  what  is  the  improper  ex- 
pectation which  it  is  dangerous  to  indulge,  experience  will  quickly 
answer,  that  it  is  such  expectation  as  is  dictated  not  by  reason, 
but  by  desire  ;  expectation  raised,  not  by  the  common  occurrences 
of  life,  but  by  the  wants  of  the   expectant ;  an   expectation  that 

'  W.  S.  Landor  (  Works,  ed.  1876,  v.  99)  says:  — '  Extraordinary  as 
were  Johnson's  intellectual  powers,  he  knew  about  as  much  of  poetry 
as  of  geograph}'.  In  one  of  his  letters  he  talks  of  Guadaloupe  as  being 
in  another  hemisphere.  Speaking  of  that  island,  his  very  words  are 
these  :  "  Whether  you  return  hither  or  stay  in  another  hemisphere."  ' 
Guadaloupe,  being  in  the  West  Indies,  is  in  another  hemisphere. 

'  See/fi-/",  April  12.  1776. 

^  '  It  is  necessary  to  hope,  though  hope  should  always  be  deluded  ; 
for  hope  itself  is  happiness,  and  its  frustrations,  however  frequent,  are 
less  dreadful  than  its  extinction.'  The  Idler,  No.  58.  See  also  post, 
under  March  30,  1783,  where  he  ranks  the  situation  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales  as  the  happiest  in  the  kingdom,  partly  on  account  of  the  enjoy- 
ment of  hope. 

requires 


Aetat.  53.]     Johnson  s  second  letter  to  Baretti.  427 


requires  the  common  course  of  things  to  be  changed,  and  the  gen- 
eral rules  of  action  to  be  broken. 

'  When  you  made  your  request  to  me,  you  should  have  con- 
sidered, Madam,  what  you  were  asking.  You  ask  me  to  solicit  a 
great  man,  to  whom  I  never  spoke,  for  a  young  person  whom  I  had 
never  seen,  upon  a  supposition  which  I  had  no  means  of  knowing 
to  be  true.  There  is  no  reason  why,  amongst  all  the  great,  I 
should  chuse  to  supplicate  the  Archbishop,  nor  why,  among  all  the 
possible  objects  of  his  bounty,  the  Archbishop  should  chuse  your 
son.  I  know.  Madam,  how  unwillingly  conviction  is  admitted, 
when  interest  opposes  it ;  but  surely.  Madam,  you  must  allow,  that 
there  is  no  reason  why  that  should  be  done  by  me,  which  every 
other  man  may  do  with  equal  reason,  and  which,  indeed,  no  man 
can  do  properly,  without  some  very  particular  relation  both  to  the 
Archbishop  and  to  you.  If  I  could  help  you  in  this  exigence  by 
any  proper  means,  it  would  give  me  pleasure  ;  but  this  proposal  is 
so  very  remote  from  all  usual  methods,  that  1  cannot  comply  with 
it,  but  at  the  risk  of  such  answer  and  suspicions  as  I  believe  you 
do  not  wish  me  to  undergo. 

'  I  have  seen  your  son  this  morning ;  he  seems  a  pretty  youth, 
and  will,  perhaps,  find  some  better  friend  than  I  can  procure  him  ; 
but,  though  he  should  at  last  miss  the  University,  he  may  still  be 
wise,  useful,  and  happy.     I  am.  Madam, 

'  Your  most  humble  servant, 

'Junes,  1762.'  '  Sam.  Johnson.' 

'To  Mr.  Joseph  Baretti,  at  Milan. 

'  London,  July  20,  1762'. 
'Sir, 

'  However  justly  you  may  accuse  me  for  want  of  punctuality 

in  correspondence,  I  am  not  so  far  lost  in  negligence  as  to  omit 

the  opportunity  of  writing  to  you,  which  Mr.  Beauclerk's  passage 

through  Milan  affords  me. 

'  f  suppose  you  received  the  Idlers,  and  I  intend  that  you  shall 

soon  receive  Shakspeare,  that  you  may  explain  his  works  to  the 

ladies  of  Italy,  and  tell  them  the  story  of  the  editor,  among  the 

other  strange  narratives  with  which  your  long  residence  in  this 

unknown  region  has  supplied  you. 

'  Though  Johnson  wrote  this  same  day  to  Lord  Bute  to  thank  him 
for  his  pension,  he  makes  no  mention  to  Baretti  of  this  accession  to 
his  fortune. 

'As 


428  yohnsou's  visit  to  Lichfield.  [a.d.  I7fi3. 

'  As  you  have  now  been  long  away,  I  suppose  your  curiosity  may 
pant  for  some  news  of  your  old  friends.  Miss  Williams  and  I  live 
much  as  we  did.  Miss  Cotterel'  still  continues  to  cling  to  Mrs. 
Porter,  and  Charlotte^  is  now  big  of  the  fourth  child.  Mr.  Rey- 
nolds gets  six  thousands  a  year'*.  Levet  is  lately  married,  not 
without  much  suspicion  that  he  has  been  wretchedly  cheated  in  his 
match'.  Mr.  Chambers  is  gone  this  day,  for  the  first  time,  the  cir- 
cuit with  the  Judges.  Mr.  Richardson  is  dead  of  an  apoplexy^  and 
his  second  daughter  has  married  a  merchant. 

'  My  vanity,  or  my  kindness,  makes  me  flatter  myself,  that  you 
would  rather  hear  of  me  than  of  those  whom  I  have  mentioned; 
but  of  myself  I  have  very  little  which  I  care  to  tell.  Last  winter 
I  went  down  to  my  native  town\  where  I  found  the  streets  much 

>  See  ante,  p.  284.  Mrs.  Porter,  the  actress,  lived  some  time  with 
Mrs.  Cotterel  and  her  eldest  daughter.     Croker. 

^  Miss  Charlotte  Cotterel,  married  to  Dean  Lewis.  See  post,  Dec. 
21,  1763. 

'  Reynolds's  note-book  shows  that  this  year  he  had  close  on  150 
sitters.     Taylor's  Reynolds,  i.  218. 

♦  '  He  married  a  woman  of  the  town,  who  had  persuaded  him  (not- 
withstanding their  place  of  congress  was  a  small  coalshed  in  Fetter 
Lane)  that  she  was  nearly  related  to  a  man  of  fortune,  but  was  inju- 
riously kept  by  him  out  of  large  possessions.  She  regarded  him  as  a 
physician  already  in  considerable  practice.  He  had  not  been  married 
four  months,  before  a  writ  was  taken  out  against  him  for  debts  in- 
curred by  his  wife.  He  was  secreted ;  and  his  friend  then  procured 
him  a  protection  from  a  foreign  minister.  In  a  short  time  afterwards 
she  ran  away  from  him,  and  was  tried  (providentially  in  his  opinion) 
for  picking  pockets  at  the  Old  Bailey.  Her  husband  was  with  diffi- 
culty prevented  from  attending  the  Court,  in  the  hope  she  would  be 
hanged.  She  pleaded  her  own  cause  and  was  acquitted.  A  separa- 
tion between  them  took  place.'     Gent.  Mag.  Iv.  loi. 

'  Richardson  had  died  more  than  a  year  earlier, — on  July  4,  1761. 
That  Johnson  should  think  it  needful  at  the  date  of  his  letter  to  in- 
form Baretti  of  the  death  of  so  famous  a  writer  shows  how  slight  was 
the  communication  between  London  and  Milan.  Nay,  he  repeats  the 
news  in  his  letter  of  Dec.  21,  1762. 

'  On  Dec.  8,  1765,  he  wrote  to  Hector :—' A  few  years  ago  I  just 
saluted  Birmingham,  but  had  no  time  to  see  any  friend,  for  I  came  in 
after  midnight  with  a  friend,  and  went  away  in  the  morning.'  Notes 
and  Queries,  6th  S.  iii.  321.  He  passed  through  Birmingham,  I  con- 
jecture, on  his  visit  to  Lichfield. 

narrower 


Aetat.  53.]  yohnsons  visit  to  Lichfield.  429 

narrower  and  shorter  than  I  thought  I  had  left  them,  inhabited  by 
a  new  race  of  people,  to  whom  T  was  very  Uttle  known.  My  play- 
fellows were  grown  old,  and  forced  me  to  suspect  that  I  was  no 
longer  young.  My  only  remaining  friend  has  changed  his  prin- 
ciples, and  was  become  the  tool  of  the  predominant  faction.  My 
daughter-in-law,  from  whom  1  expected  most,  and  whom  I  met  with 
sincere  benevolence,  has  lost  the  beauty  and  gaiety  of  youth,  with- 
out having  gained  much  of  the  wisdom  of  age'.  I  wandered  about 
for  five  days^  and  took  the  first  convenient  opportunity  of  return- 
ing to  a  place,  where,  if  there  is  not  much  happiness,  there  is,  at 
least,  such  a  diversity  of  good  and  evil,  that  slight  vexations  do  not 
fix  upon  the  heart^ 

'  I  think  in  a  few  weeks  to  try  another  excursion ' ;  though  to 
what  end }  Let  me  know,  my  Baretti,  what  has  been  the  result  of 
your  return  to  your  own  country:  whether  time  has  made  any 
alteration  for  the  better,  and  whether,  when  the  first  raptures  of 
salutation  were  over,  you  did  not  find  your  thoughts  confessed 
their  disappointment. 

'  Moral  sentences  appear  ostentatious  and  tumid,  when  they  have 
no  greater  occasions  than  the  journey  of  a  wit  to  his  own  town  : 
yet  such  pleasures  and  such  pains  make  up  the  general  mass  of 
life ;  and  as  nothing  is  little  to  him  that  feels  it  with  gr&at  sensi- 
bility, a  mind  able  to  see  common  incidents  in  their  real  state,  is 
disposed  by  very  common  incidents  to  very  serious  contemplations. 
Let  us  trust  that  a  time  will  come,  when  the  present  moment  shall 


*  Writing  to  Mrs.  Thrale  from  Lichfield  on  July  20,  1767,  he  says : — 
'  Miss  Lucy  [Porter,  his  step-daughter,  not  his  daughter-in-law,  as  he 
calls  her  above]  is  more  kind  and  civil  than  I  expected,  and  has  raised 
my  esteem  by  many  excellencies  very  noble  and  resplendent,  though 
a  little  discoloured  by  hoary  virginity.  Everything  else  recalls  to  my 
remembrance  years,  in  which  I  proposed  what  I  am  afraid  I  have  not 
done,  and  promised  myself  pleasure  which  I  have  not  found.'  Piozzi 
Letters,  i.  4. 

*  In  his  Journey  into  Wales  (Aug.  24,  1774),  he  describes  how  Mrs. 
Thrale  visited  one  of  the  scenes  of  her  youth.  *  She  remembered  the 
rooms,  and  wandered  over  them  with  recollection  of  her  childhood. 
This  species  of  pleasure  is  always  melancholy.  The  walk  was  cut 
down  and  the  pond  was  dry.     Nothing  was  better.' 

'  This  is  a  very  just  account  of  the  relief  which  London  affords  to 
melancholy  minds.     Boswell. 

*  To  Devonshire. 

be 


430  The  accession  of  George  III.        [a.d.  1762. 


be  no  longer  irksome  ;  when  we  shall  not  borrow  all  our  happiness 
from  hope,  which  at  last  is  to  end  in  disappointment. 

'1  beg  that  you  will  shew  Mr.  Beauclerk  all  the  civilities  which 
you  have  in  your  power ;  for  he  has  always  been  kind  to  me. 

'  I  have  lately  seen  Mr.  Stratico,  Professor  of  Padua,  who  has 
told  me  of  your  quarrel  with  an  Abbot  of  the  Celestine  order  ;  but 
had  not  the  particulars  very  ready  in  his  memory.  When  you  write 
to  Mr.  Marsili',  let  him  know  that  I  remember  him  with  kindness. 

'  May  you,  my  Baretti,  be  very  happy  at  Milan",  or  some  other 
place  nearer  to,  Sir, 

'  Your  most  affectionate  humble  servant, 

'Sam.  Johnson.' 

The  accession  of  George  the  Third  to  the  throne  of  these 
kingdoms,  opened  a  new  and  brighter  prospect  to  men  of 
literary  merit,  who  had  been  honoured  with  no  mark  of  royal 
favour  in  the  preceding  reign.  His  present  Majesty's  edu- 
cation in  this  country,  as  well  as  his  taste  and  beneficence, 
prompted  him  to  be  the  patron  of  science  and  the  arts ;  and 
early  this  year  Johnson,  having  been  represented  to  him  as 
a  very  learned  and  good  man,  without  any  certain  provision, 
his  Majesty  was  pleased  to  grant  him  a  pension  of  three 
hundred  pounds  a  year".     The  Earl  of  Bute,  who  was  then 

'  See  ante,  p.  373. 

'  Dr.  T.  Campbell  {Diary  of  a  visit  to  England,  p.  32)  recorded  on 
March  16,  1775,  that  '  Baretti  said  that  now  he  could  not  live  out  of 
London.  He  had  returned  a  few  years  ago  to  his  own  country,  but 
he  could  not  enjoy  it;  and  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  London  to 
those  connections  he  had  been  making  for  near  thirty  years  past.' 
Baretti  had  come  to  England  in  1750  {attte.  p.  349),  so  that  thirty  years 
is  an  exaggeration. 

^  How  great  a  sum  this  must  have  been  in  Johnson's  eyes  is  shown 
by  a  passage  in  his  Life  of  Savage  (  Works,  viii.  125).  Savage,  he  says, 
was  received  into  Lord  Tyrconnel's  family  and  allowed  a  pension  of 
^200  a  year.  '  His  presence,'  Johnson  writes,  'was  sufficient  to  make 
any  place  of  publick  entertainment  popular ;  and  his  approbation  and 
example  constituted  the  fashion.  So  powerful  is  genius  when  it  is 
invested  with  the  glitter  of  afifluence !'  In  the  last  summer  of  his  life, 
speaking  of  the  chance  of  his  pension  being  doubled,  he  said  that 
with  six  hundred  a  year  '  a  man  would  have  the  consciousness  that 
he  should  pass  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  splendour,  how  long  soever 

Prime 


Aetat.  53.]  jfohnsou  s  peiisiofi.  431 

Prime  Minister,  had  the  honour  to  announce  this  instance  of 
his  Sovereign's  bounty,  concerning  which,  many  and  various 
stories,  all  equally  erroneous,  have  been  propagated  :  mali- 
ciously representing  it  as  a  political  bribe  to  Johnson,  to  desert 
his  avowed  principles,  and  become  the  tool  of  a  government 
which  he  held  to  be  founded  in  usurpation.  I  have  taken 
care  to  have  it  in  my  power  to  refute  them  from  the  most 
authentick  information.  Lord  Bute  told  me,  that  Mr.  Wed- 
derburne,  now  Lord  Loughborough,  was  the  person  who  first 
mentioned  this  subject  to  him'.     Lord  Loughborough  told 

it  might  be.'  /'(Jj/,  June  30,  1784.  David  Hume  writing  in  1751.  says  : 
— '  I  have  £10  a  year,  a  £\oo  worth  of  books,  great  store  of  linens  and 
fine  clothes,  and  near  ^100  in  my  pocket ;  along  with  order,  frugality, 
a  strong  spirit  of  independency,  good  health,  a  contented  humour,  and 
an  unabating  love  of  study.  In  these  circumstances  I  must  esteem 
myself  one  of  the  happy  and  fortunate.'  J.  H.  Burton's  Hume,  i.  342. 
Goldsmith,  in  his  Present  State  of  Polite  Learning  (chap,  vii.),  makes 
the  following  observation  on  pensions  granted  in  France  to  authors : 
— '  The  French  nobility  have  certainly  a  most  pleasing  way  of  satisfy- 
ing the  vanity  of  an  author  without  indulging  his  avarice.  A  man  of 
literary  merit  is  sure  of  being  caressed  by  the  great,  though  seldom 
enriched.  His  pension  from  the  crown  just  supplies  half  a  compe- 
tence, and  the  sale  of  his  labours  makes  some  small  addition  to  his 
circumstances ;  thus  the  author  leads  a  life  of  splendid  poverty,  and 
seldom  becomes  wealthy  or  indolent  enough  to  discontinue  an  exer- 
tion of  those  abilities  by  which  he  rose.'  Whether  Johnson's  pension 
led  to  his  writing  less  than  he  would  otherwise  have  done  may  be 
questioned.  It  is  true  that  in  the  next  seventeen  years  he  did  little 
more  than  finish  his  edition  of  Shakespeare,  and  write  his  yourney  to 
tJie  Western  Islands  and  two  or  three  political  pamphlets.  But  since 
he  wrote  the  last  number  of  T/ie  Idler  in  the  spring  of  1760  he  had 
done  very  little.  His  mind,  which,  to  use  Murphy's  words  {Life,  p.  80), 
had  been  'strained  and  over-laboured  by  constant  exertion,' had  not 
recovered  its  tone.  It  is  likely,  that  without  the  pension  he  would 
not  have  lived  to  write  the  second  greatest  of  his  works — the  Li7fes 
of  the  Poets. 

'  Mr.  Forster  {I^ife  of  Goldsmith,  i.  281)  says:—'  Bute's  pensions  to 
his  Scottish  crew  showing  meaner  than  ever  in  Churchill's  daring 
verse,  it  occurred  to  the  shrewd  and  wary  Wedderburne  to  advise,  for 
a  set  off,  that  Samuel  Johnson  should  be  pensioned.'  I'he  Prophecy 
of  Famine  in  which  Churchill's  attack  was  made  on  the  pensioned 

me 


432  yohnsons  pension.  [a.d.  1763. 

me,  that  the  pension  was  granted  to  Johnson  solely  as  the 
reward  of  his  literary  merit,  without  any  stipulation  what- 
ever, or  even  tacit  understanding  that  he  should  write  for 
administration.  His  Lordship  added,  that  he  was  confident 
the  political  tracts  which  Johnson  afterwards  did  write,  as 
they  were  entirely  consonant  with  his  own  opinions,  would 
have  been  written  by  him  though  no  pension  had  been 
granted  to  him'. 

Mr.  Thomas  Sheridan  and  Mr.  Murphy,  who  then  lived  a 
good  deal  both  with  him  and  Mr.  Wedderburne,  told  me, 
that  they  previously  talked  with  Johnson  upon  this  matter, 

Scots  was  published  in  Jan.  1763,  nearly  half  a  year  after  Johnson's 
pension  was  conferred. 

'  For  his  Falkland' s  Islands  '  materials  were  furnished  to  him  by 
the  ministry'  {post,  1771).  '  The  Patriot  was  called  for,'  he  writes, 
'by  my  political  friends'  {post,  Nov.  26,  1774).  'That  Taxation  no 
Tyranny  was  written  at  the  desire  of  those  who  were  then  in  power, 
I  have  no  doubt,' writes  Boswell  (post,  under  March  21,  1775).  'John- 
son complained  to  a  friend  that,  his  pension  having  been  given  to 
him  as  a  literary  character,  he  had  been  applied  to  by  administration 
to  write  political  pamphlets  '  {ib.).  Are  these  statements  inconsistent 
with  what  Lord  Loughborough  said,  and  with  Boswell's  assertion  [il>.) 
that  'Johnson  neither  asked  nor  received  from  government  any  re- 
ward whatsoever  for  his  political  labours  ?'  I  think  not.  I  think  that, 
had  Johnson  unpensioned  been  asked  by  the  Ministry  to  write  these 
pamphlets,  he  would  have  written  them.  He  would  have  been  pleased 
by  the  compliment,  and  for  pay  would  have  tru.sted  to  the  sale.  Speak- 
ing of  the  first  two  of  these  pamphlets — the  third  had  not  yet  appeared 
— he  said,  '  Except  what  I  had  from  the  booksellers,  I  did  not  get  a 
farthing  by  them'  {post,  March  21,  1772).  They  had  not  cost  him 
much  labour.  T/if  False  Alarm  was  written  between  eight  o'clock  of 
one  night  and  twelv^e  o'clock  of  the  ne.\t.  It  went  through  three  edi- 
tions in  less  than  two  months  {post.  1770).  Tlie  Patriot  was  written 
on  a  Saturday  {post,  Nov.  26,  1774).  At  all  events  Johnson  had  re- 
ceived his  pension  for  more  than  seven  years  before  he  did  any  work 
for  the  Ministry.  In  Croft's  Life  of  Young,  which  Johnson  adopted 
(  Works,  viii.  422),  the  following  passage  was  perhaps  intended  to  be  a 
defence  of  Johnson  as  a  writer  for  the  Ministry: — '  Yet  who  shall  say 
with  certainty  that  Young  was  a  pensioner  ?  In  all  modern  periods 
of  this  countr)-,  have  not  the  writers  on  one  side  been  regularly  called 
hirelings,  and  on  the  other  patriots }' 

and 


Aetat.  53.]  yohnson  s  interview  with  Lord  Bute.        433 


and  that  it  was  perfectly  understood  by  all  parties  that  the 
pension  was  merely  honorary.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  told 
me,  that  Johnson  called  on  him  after  his  Majesty's  intention 
had  been  notified  to  him,  and  said  he  wished  to  consult  his 
friends  as  to  the  propriety  of  his  accepting  this  mark  of  the 
royal  favour,  after  the  definitions  which  he  had  given  in  his 
Dictionary  oi pension  zw^  pensioners^ .  He  said  he  would  not 
have  Sir  Joshua's  answer  till  next  day,  when  he  would  call 
again,  and  desired  he  might  think  of  it.  Sir  Joshua  answered 
that  he  was  clear  to  give  his  opinion  then,  that  there  could 
be  no  objection  to  his  receiving  from  the  King  a  reward  for 
literary  merit ;  and  that  certainly  the  definitions  in  his  Dic- 
tionary w&xo:  not  applicable  to  him.  Johnson,  it  should  seem, 
was  satisfied,  for  he  did  not  call  again  till  he  had  accepted 
the  pension,  and  had  waited  on  Lord  Bute  to  thank  him. 
He  then  told  Sir  Joshua  that  Lord  Bute  said  to  him  ex- 
pressly, '  It  is  not  given  you  for  anything  you  are  to  do,  but 
for  what  you  have  done.'  His  Lordship,  he  said,  behaved 
in  the  handsomest  manner.  He  repeated  the  words  twice, 
that  he  might  be  sure  Johnson  heard  them,  and  thus  set 
his  mind  perfectly  at  ease.  This  nobleman,  who  has  been 
so  virulently  abused,  acted  with  great  honour  in  this  in- 
stance, and  displayed  a  mind  truly  liberal.  A  minister  of 
a  more  narrow  and  selfish  disposition  would  have  availed 
himself  of  such  an  opportunity  to  fix  an  implied  obliga- 
tion on  a  man  of  Johnson's  powerful  talents  to  give  him  his 
support. 

Mr.  Murphy  and  the  late  Mr.  Sheridan  severally  contended 
for  the  distinction  of  having  been  the  first  who  mentioned 
to  Mr.  Wedderburne  that  Johnson  ought  to  have  a  pension. 
When  I  spoke  of  this  to  Lord  Loughborough,  wishing  to 
know  if  he  recollected  the  prime  mover  in  the  business,  he 
said,  '  All  his  friends  assisted  :'  and  when  I  told  him  that 
Mr.  Sheridan  strenuously  asserted  his  claim  to  it,  his  Lord- 
ship said,  '  He  rang  the  bell.'  And  it  is  but  just  to  add,  that 
Mr.  Sheridan  told  me,  that  when  he  communicated  to  Dr. 

»  See  ante,  p.  341. 
L — 28  Johnson 


434  Murphy  s  account  of  the  pension,     [a.d.  1763. 

Johnson  that  a  pension  was  to  be  granted  him,  he  repHed 
in  a  fervour  of  gratitude,  '  The  English  language  does  not 
afford  me  terms  adequate  to  my  feelings  on  this  occasion. 
I  must  have  recourse  to  the  F"rench.  I  i\vc\  ptUietrc  \\\\\\  his 
Majesty's  goodness.'  When  I  repeated  this  to  Dr.  Johnson, 
he  did  not  contradict  it'. 

His  definitions  o[  pension  d,w6^  pensioner,  partly  founded  on 
the  satirical  verses  of  Pope',  which  he  quotes,  may  be  gener- 
ally true ;  and  yet  every  body  must  allow,  that  there  may  be, 


'  Murphy's  account  is  nearly  as  follows  (  [j'fc.  p.  92) : — '  Lord  Lough- 
borough was  well  acquainted  with  Johnson  ;  but  having  heard  much 
of  his  independent  spirit,  and  of  the  downfall  of  Osborne  the  book- 
seller [ante,  p.  178),  he  did  not  know  but  his  benevolence  might  be 
rewarded  with  a  folio  on  his  head.  He  desired  me  to  undertake  the 
task.  I  went  to  the  chambers  in  the  Inner  Temple  Lane,  which,  in 
fact,  were  the  abode  of  wretchedness.  By  slow  and  studied  approaches 
the  message  was  disclosed.  Johnson  made  a  long  pause;  he  asked  if 
it  was  seriously  intended.  He  fell  into  a  profound  meditation,  and 
his  own  definition  of  a  pensioner  occurred  to  him.  He  desired  to 
meet  next  day,  and  dine  at  the  Mitre  Tavern.  At  that  meeting  he 
gave  up  al!  his  scruples.  On  the  following  day  Lord  Loughborough 
conducted  him  to  the  Earl  of  Bute.  The  conversation  that  passed 
w^as  in  the  evening  related  to  me  by  Dr.  Johnson.  He  expressed  his 
sense  of  his  Majesty's  bounty,  and  thought  himself  the  more  highly 
honoured,  as  the  fav'our  was  not  bestowed  on  him  for  having  dipped 
his  pen  in  faction.  "  No,  Sir,"  said  Lord  Bute,  "  it  is  not  offered  to 
you  for  having  dipped  your  pen  in  faction,  nor  with  a  design  that  you 
ever  should."  '  The  reviewer  of  Hawkin.s's  JoJntson  in  the  Monthly 
Rroiew,  Ixxvi.  375,  who  was,  no  doubt.  Murphy,  adds  a  little  circum- 
stance : — '  On  the  next  day  Mr.  Murphy  was  in  the  Temple  Lane  soon 
after  nine;  he  got  Johnson  up  and  dressed  in  due  time;  and  saw  him 
set  off  at  eleven.'  Malone's  note  on  what  Lord  Bute  said  to  Johnson 
is  as  follows  : — '  This  was  said  by  Lord  Bute,  as  Dr.  Burney  was  in- 
formed by  Johnson  himself,  in  answer  to  a  question  which  he  put. 
previously  to  his  acceptance  of  the  intended  bounty :  "  Pray,  my  Lord, 
what  am  I  expected  to  do  for  this  pension  ?"  ' 

'  '  In  Britain's  senate  he  a  seat  obtains 

And  one  more  pensioner  St.  Stephen  gains.' 

Moral  Essays,  iii.  392. 
Johnson  left  the  definition  of  pension  and  pensioner  unchanged  in  the 
fourth  edition  of  the  Dictionary,  corrected  by  him  in  1773. 

and 


Aetat.53.]       yohjison  s  letter  to  Lord  Bute.  435 

and  have  been,  instances  of  pensions  given  and  received  upon 
liberal  and  honourable  terms.  Thus,  then,  it  is  clear,  that 
there  was  nothing  inconsistent  or  humiliating  in  Johnson's 
accepting  of  a  pension  so  unconditionally  and  so  honourably 
offered  to  him. 

But  I  shall  not  detain  my  readers  longer  by  any  words  of 
my  own,  on  a  subject  on  which  I  am  happily  enabled,  by  the 
favour  of  the  Earl  of  Bute,  to  present  them  with  what  John- 
son himself  wrote ;  his  lordship  having  been  pleased  to  com- 
municate to  me  a  copy  of  the  following  letter  to  his  late 
father',  which  does  great  honour  both  to  the  writer,  and  to 
the  noble  person  to  whom  it  is  addressed : 

'To  THE  Right  Honourable  the  Earl  of  Bute, 
'Mv  Lord, 

'When  the  bills"  were  yesterday  delivered  to  me  by  Mr.  Wed- 
derburne,  I  was  informed  by  him  of  the  future  favours  which  his 

'  He  died  on  March  10,  1792.  This  paragraph  and  the  letter  are 
not  in  the  first  two  editions. 

*  'The  Treasury,  Home  Office,  Exchequer  of  Receipt  and  Audit 
Office  Records  have  been  searched  for  a  warrant  granting  a  pension 
to  Dr.  Johnson  without  success.  In  1782,  by  Act  of  ParHament  all 
pensions  on  the  Civil  List  Establishment  were  from  that  time  to  be 
paid  at  the  Exchequer.  In  the  Exchequer  Order  Book,  Michaelmas 
1782,  No.  46,  p.  74,  the  following  memorandum  occurs  : — "  Memdum. 
3  Dec.  1782.  There  was  issued  to  the  following  persons  (By  order 
6th  of  Nov.  1782)  the  sums  set  against  their  names  respectively,  etc. : — 

Persons  names:  Johnson  Sam',  LL.D. 

Pensions  p.  ann.  ;^300.     Due  to  5  July  1782,  two  quarters.  £iyi."  ' 

This  pension  was  paid  at  the  Exchequer  from  that  time  to  the 
quarter  ending  10  Oct.  1784.  'It  is  clear  that  the  pension  was  pay- 
able quarterly  [for  confirmation  of  this,  sec  post,  Nov.  3.  1762,  and  July 
16,  1765]  and  at  the  old  quarter  days,  July  5,  Oct.  10,  Jan.  5,  April  5, 
though  payment  was  sometimes  delayed.  [Once  he  was  paid  half- 
yearly;  see /cj'/,  under  March  20,  1771].  The  expression  "  bills  "  was 
a  general  term  at  the  time  for  notes,  cheques,  and  warrants,  and  no 
doubt  covered  some  kind  of  Treasury  warrant.'  The  above  informa- 
tion I  owe  to  the  kindness  of  my  friend  Mr.  Leonard  H.  Courtney, 
M.P.,  late  Financial  Secretary  to  the  Treasury.  The  'future  favours' 
are  the  future  payments.  His  pension  was  not  for  life,  and  depended 
therefore  entirely  on  the  kings  pleasure  (see  post,  under  March  21, 

Majesty 


43^  A  visit  to  Devonshire.  [a.d.  1762. 

Majesty  has,  by  your  Lordship's  recommendation,  been  induced  to 
intend  for  me. 

'Bounty  always  receives  part  of  its  value  from  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  bestowed  ;  your  Lordship's  kindness  includes  every 
circumstance  that  can  gratify  delicacy,  or  enforce  obligation.  You 
have  conferred  your  favours  on  a  man  who  has  neither  alliance  nor 
interest,  who  has  not  merited  them  by  services,  nor  courted  them 
by  officiousness ;  you  have  spared  him  the  shame  of  solicitation, 
and  the  anxiety  of  suspense. 

'  What  has  been  thus  elegantly  given,  will,  1  hope,  not  be  re- 
proachfully enjoyed  ;  I  shall  endeavour  to  give  your  Lordship  the 
only  recompense  which  generosity  desires, — the  gratification  of 
finding  that  your  benefits  are  not  improperly  bestowed.  I  am,  my 
Lord,  '  Your  Lordship's  most  obliged, 

'  Most  obedient,  and  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'  July  2o,  1762.' 

This  year  his  friend  Sir  Joshua  Rc\'nolds  paid  a  visit  of 
some  weeks  to  his  native  country,  Devonshire,  in  which  he 
was  accompanied  by  Johnson,  who  was  much  pleased  with 
this  jaunt,  and  declared  he  had  derived  from  it  a  great  ac- 
cession of  new  ideas'.     He  was  entertained  at  the  seats  of 


'775)-  The  following  letter  in  the  Gre7i7nih'  Papas,  ii.  68,  seems  to 
show  that  Johnson  thought  the  pension  due  on  the  )ir\<.<  quarter- 
day  : — 

'Dr.  Johnson  to  Mr.  Grp:nv)llk.     ,  , 
•Sir.  'July-.  1763. 

'  Be  pleased  to  pay  to  the  bearer  seventy-five  pounds,  being  the 
quarterly  payment  of  a  pension  granted  by  his  Majesty,  and  due  on 
the  24th  day  of  June  last,  to  Sir, 

'  Your  most  humble  ser\'ant, 

*  Sam.  Johnson." 
*  They  left  London  on  Aug.  16  and  returned  to  it  on  Sept.  26, 
Taylor's  Reynolds,  i.  214.  Northcote  records  of  this  visit: — 'I  re- 
member when  Mr.  Reynolds  was  pointed  out  to  me  at  a  public 
meeting,  where  a  great  crowd  was  assembled,  I  got  as  near  to  him  as 
I  could  from  the  pressure  of  the  people  to  touch  the  skirt  of  his  coat, 
which  I  did  with  great  satisfaction  to  my  mind.'  Northcote 's  Reyn- 
olds, i.  116.  In  like  manner  Reynolds,  when  a  youth,  had  in  a  great 
crowd  touched  the  hand  of  Pope.  lb.  p.  19.  Pope,  when  a  boy  of 
eleven,  'persuaded  some   friends  to  take  him  to  the  coffee-house 

several 


Aetat.  53.]  jfohnson  at  Plymouth.  437 

several  noblemen  and  gentlemen  in  the  West  of  England'; 
but  the  greatest  part  of  the  time  was  passed  at  Plymouth, 
where  the  magnificence  of  the  navy,  the  ship-building  and  all 
its  circumstances,  afforded  him  a  grand  subject  of  contempla- 
tion. The  Commissioner  of  the  Dock-yard  paid  him  the  com- 
pliment of  ordering  the  yacht  to  convey  him  and  his  friend 
to  the  Eddystone,  to  which  they  accordingly  sailed.  But  the 
weather  was  so  tempestuous  that  they  could  not  land*. 

Reynolds   and   he  were   at    this   time    the   guests   of   Dr. 
Mudge^  the  celebrated  surgeon,  and  now  physician  of  that 

which  Dryden  frequented.'  Johnson's  J^F^ryC'^.viii.  236.  Who  touched 
old  Northcote's  hand  .'*  Has  the  apostolic  succession  been  continued  ? 
— Since  writing  these  lines  I  have  read  with  pleasure  the  following 
passage  in  Mr.  Ruskin's  Praeierita,  chapter  i.  p.  i6  : — 'When  at  three- 
and-a-half  I  was  taken  to  have  my  portrait  painted  by  Mr.  Northcote, 
I  had  not  been  ten  minutes  alone  with  him  before  I  asked  him  why 
there  were  holes  in  his  carpet.'  Drj^den,  Pope,  Reynolds,  Northcote, 
Ruskin,  so  runs  the  chain  of  genius,  with  only  one  weak  link  in  it. 

'  At  one  of  these  seats  Dr.  Amyat,  Physician  in  London,  told  me  he 
happened  to  meet  him.  In  order  to  amuse  him  till  dinner  should  be 
ready,  he  was  taken  out  to  walk  in  the  garden.  The  master  of  the 
house,  thinking  it  proper  to  introduce  something  scientifick  into  the 
conversation,  addressed  him  thus  :  'Are  you  a  botanist.  Dr.  Johnson  ?' 
'  No,  Sir,  (answered  Johnson,)  I  am  not  a  botanist ;  and,  (alluding,  no 
doubt,  to  his  near  sightedness)  should  I  wish  to  become  a  botanist,  I 
must  first  turn  myself  into  a  reptile.'     Boswell. 

^  Mrs.  Piozzi  {Anec.  285)  says:— 'The  roughness  of  the  language 
used  on  board  a  man  of  war,  where  he  passed  a  week  on  a  visit  to 
Captain  Knight,  disgusted  him  terribly.  He  asked  an  officer  what 
some  place  was  called,  and  received  for  answer  that  it  was  where  the 
loplolly  man  kept  his  loplolly;  a  reply  he  considered  as  disrespectful, 
gross  and  ignorant.'  Mr.  Croker  says  that  Captain  Knight  of  the 
l^ellcisle  lay  for  a  couple  of  months  in  1762  in  Plymouth  Sound. 
Croker's  Boswel/,  p.  480.  It  seems  unlikely  that  Johnson  passed  a 
whole  week  on  ship-board.  Loplolly,  or  Loblolly,  is  explained  in  Rod- 
crick  Randotn,  chap,  xxvii.  Roderick,  when  acting  as  the  surgeon's 
assistant  on  a  man  of  war,  'suffered,'  he  says,  'from  the  rude  insults 
of  the  sailors  and  petty  officers,  among  whom  I  was  known  by  the 
name  of  Loblolly  Boy.' 

^  He  was  the  father  of  Colonel  William  Mudge,  distinguished  by  his 
trigonometrical  survey  of  England  and  Wales.     W^right. 

place, 


438  The  guest  of  Dr.  Miidge.  [a.d.1762. 

place,  not  more  distinguished  for  quickness  of  parts  and  va- 
riety of  knowledge,  than  loved  and  esteemed  for  his  amiable 
manners ;  and  here  Johnson  formed  an  acquaintance  with 
Dr.  Mudge's  father,  that  very  eminent  divine,  the  Reverend 
Zachariah  Mudge',  Prebendary'  of  Exeter,  who  was  idolised 
in  the  west,  both  for  his  excellence  as  a  preacher  and  the  uni- 
form perfect  propriety  of  his  private  conduct.  He  preached 
a  sermon  purposely  that  Johnson  might  hear  him  ;  and  we 
shall  see  afterwards  that  Johnson  honoured  his  memory  by 
drawing  his  character^  While  Johnson  was  at  Plymouth,  he 
saw  a  great  many  of  its  inhabitants,  and  was  not  sparing  of 
his  very  entertaining  conversation.  It  was  here  that  he  made 
that  frank  and  truly  original  confession,  that  *  ignorance, 
pure  ignorance,'  was  the  cause  of  a  wrong  definition  in  his 
Dictionary  of  the  word  pastcrti^,  to  the  no  small  surprise  of 
the  Lady  who  put  the  question  to  him  ;  who  having  the 
most  profound  reverence  for  his  character,  so  as  almost  to 
suppose  him  endowed  with  infallibility,  expected  to  hear  an 
explanation  (of  what,  to  be  sure,  seemed  strange  to  a  com- 
mon reader,)  drawn  from  some  deep  -  learned  source  with 
which  she  was  unacquainted. 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  to  whom  I  was  obliged  for  my  infor- 
mation concerning  this  excursion,  mentions  a  ver>'  charac- 
teristical  anecdote  of  Johnson  while  at  Plymouth.  Having 
observed  that  in  consequence  of  the  Dock-yard  a  new  town* 
had  arisen  about  two  miles  off  as  a  ri\al  to  the  old  ;  and 
knowing  from  his  sagacity,  and  just  observation  of  human 
nature,  that  it  is  certain  if  a  man  hates  at  all.  he  will  hate  his 
next  neighbour  ;  he  concluded  that  this  new  and  rising  town 
could  not  but  excite  the  envy  and  jealousy  of  the  old,  in 

'  '  I  have  myself  heard  Reynolds  declare,  that  the  elder  Mr.  Mudge 
was,  in  his  opinion,  the  wisest  man  he  had  ever  met  with  in  his  life. 
He  has  always  told  me  that  he  owed  his  first  disposition  to  generalise, 
and  to  view  things  in  the  abstract,  to  him."  Northcote's  Reynolds, 
i.  112,  118. 

'  See  post,  under  March  20,  1781. 

*  See  anft',  p.  340.     BoswELL. 

*  The  present  Devonport. 

which 


Aetat.53.]  All  enemy  of  the  Dockers.  439 

which  conjecture  he  was  ver>'  soon  confirmed  ;  he  therefore 
set  himself  resolutely  on  the  side  of  the  old  town,  the  cs- 
tablished  town,  in  which  his  lot  was  cast,  considering  it  as 
a  kind  of  duty  to  stand  by  it.  He  accordingly  entered  warm- 
ly into  its  interests,  and  upon  every  occasion  talked  of  the 
dockers,  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  new  town  were  called,  as 
upstarts  and  aliens.  Plymouth  is  very  plentifully  supplied 
with  water  by  a  river  brought  into  it  from  a  great  distance, 
which  is  so  abundant  that  it  runs  to  waste  in  the  town. 
The  Dock,  or  New-town,  being  totally  destitute  of  water, 
petitioned  Plymouth  that  a  small  portion  of  the  conduit 
might  be  permitted  to  go  to  them,  and  this  was  now  under 
consideration.  Johnson,  affecting  to  entertain  the  passions 
of  the  place,  was  violent  in  opposition  ;  and,  half-laughing  at 
himself  for  his  pretended  zeal  where  he  had  no  concern,  ex- 
claimed, '  No,  no!  I  am  against  the  dockers;  I  am  a  Plym- 
outh-man. Rogues!  let  them  die  of  thirst.  They  shall  not 
have  a  drop' !' 

'  A  friend  of  mine  once  heard  him,  during  this  visit,  exclaim  with 
the  utmost  vehemence  'I  hate  a  Docker.'  Blakewav.  Northcote 
{Life  of  Reynolds,  i.  118)  says  that  Reynolds  took  Johnson  to  dine  at 
a  house  where  '  he  devoured  so  large  a  quantity  of  new  honey  and  of 
clouted  cream,  besides  drinking  large  potations  of  new  cyder,  that  the 
entertainer  found  himself  much  embarrassed  between  his  anxious  re- 
gard for  the  Doctor's  health  and  his  fear  of  breaking  through  the 
rules  of  politeness,  by  giving  him  a  hint  on  the  subject.  The  strength 
of  Johnson's  constitution,  however,  saved  him  from  any  unpleasant 
consequences.'  'Sir  Joshua  informed  a  friend  that  he  had  never  seen 
Dr.  Johnson  intoxicated  by  hard  drinking  but  once,  and  that  happened 
at  the  time  that  they  were  together  in  Devonshire,  when  one  night 
after  supper  Johnson  drank  three  bottles  of  wine,  which  affected  his 
speech  so  much  that  he  was  unable  to  articulate  a  hard  word,  which 
occurred  in  the  course  of  his  conversation.  He  attempted  it  three 
times  but  failed  ;  yet  at  last  accomplished  it,  and  then  said,  "  Well,  Sir 
Joshua,  I  think  it  is  now  time  to  go  to  bed."  '  lb.  ii.  161.  One  part 
of  this  story  however  is  wanting  in  accuracy,  and  therefore  all  may  be 
untrue.  Reynolds  at  this  time  was  not  knighted.  Johnson  said  {post, 
April  7,  1778) :  '  I  did  not  leave  off  wine  because  I  could  not  bear  it; 
I  have  drunk  three  bottles  of  port  without  being  the  worse  for  it. 
University  College  has  witnessed  this.'     See  however  post.  April  24, 

Lord 


440  yohnsoiis  third  letter  to  Baretti.      [a. d.  1762. 


Lord  Macartney  obligingly  favoured  mc  with  a  copy  of  the 
following  letter,  in  his  own  hand-writing,  from  the  original, 
which  was  found,  by  the  present  Earl  of  Bute,  among  his 
father's  papers. 

'To  THE  Right  Honourable  the  Eari.  of  Bute. 
'  My  Lord, 

'  That  generosity,  by  which  I  was  recommended  to  the  favour 
of  his  Majesty,  will  not  be  ofifended  at  a  solicitation  necessary  to 
make  that  favour  permanent  and  effectual. 

'  The  pension  appointed  to  be  paid  me  at  Michaelmas  I  have 
not  received,  and  know  not  where  or  from  whom  I  am  to  ask  it.  I 
beg,  therefore,  that  your  Lordship  will  be  pleased  to  supply  Mr. 
Wedderburne  with  such  directions  as  may  be  necessary,  which,  I 
believe,  his  friendship  will  make  him  think  it  no  trouble  to  convey 
to  me. 

'  To  interrupt  your  Lordship,  at  a  time  like  this,  with  such  petty 
difficulties,  is  improper  and  unseasonable ;  but  your  knowledge  of 
the  world  has  long  since  taught  you,  that  every  man's  affairs,  how- 
ever little,  are  important  to  himself.  Every  man  hopes  that  he 
shall  escape  neglect ;  and,  with  reason,  may  every  man,  whose  vices 
do  not  preclude  his  claim,  expect  favour  from  that  beneficence 
which  has  been  extended  to, 

'  My  Lord, 

'Your  Lordship's 
'  Most  obliged 
'And 
'  Most  humble  servant, 
'Temple  Lane,  '  Sam.  Johnson.' 

'Nov.  3,  1762.' 

'To  Mr.  Joseph  Baretti,  at  Milan. 
'Sir  '  London.  Dec.  21,  1762. 

'  You  are  not  to  suppose,  with  all  your  conviction  of  my  idle- 
ness, that  I  have  passed  all  this  time  without  writing  to  my  Baretti. 
I  gave  a  letter  to  Mr.  Beauclerk,  who,  in  my  opinion,  and  in  his 
own,  was  hastening  to  Naples  for  the  recovery  of  his  health' ;  but 

1779,  where  he  said: — 'I  used  to  sHnk  home  when  I  had  drunk  too 
much  ;'  also  ante,  p.  120,  and  post,  April  28,  1783. 

'  George  Selwyn  wrote : — '  Topham  Beauclerk  is  arrived.  1  hear 
he  lost  ;^io,ooo  to  a  thief  at  Venice,  which  thief,  in  the  course  of  the 

he 


Aetat.  53.]  Love  and  marriage.  441 

he  has  stopped  at  Paris,  and  I  know  not  when  he  will  proceed. 
Langton  is  with  him. 

'  I  will  not  trouble  you  with  speculations  about  peace  and  war. 
The  good  or  ill  success  of  battles  and  embassies  extends  itself  to 
a  very  small  part  of  domestick  life  :  we  all  have  good  and  evil, 
which  we  feel  more  sensibly  than  our  petty  part  of  publick  miscar- 
riage or  prosperity'.  I  am  sorry  for  your  disappointment,  with 
which  you  seem  more  touched  than  I  should  expect  a  man  of  your 
resolution  and  experience  to  have  been,  did  I  not  know  that  general 
truths  are  seldom  applied  to  particular  occasions  ;  and  that  the 
fallacy  of  our  self  -  love  extends  itself  as  wide  as  our  interest  or 
affections.  Every  man  believes  that  mistresses  are  unfaithful,  and 
patrons  capricious  ;  but  he  excepts  his  own  mistress,  and  his  own 
patron.  We  have  all  learned  that  greatness  is  negligent  and  con- 
temptuous, and  that  in  Courts  life  is  often  languished  away  in  un- 
gratified  expectation  ;  but  he  that  approaches  greatness,  or  glitters 
in  a  Court,  imagines  that  destiny  has  at  last  exempted  him  from 
the  common  lot. 

'  Do  not  let  such  evils  overwhelm  you  as  thousands  have  suf- 
fered, and  thousands  have  surmounted ;  but  turn  your  thoughts 
with  vigour  to  some  other  plan  of  life,  and  keep  always  in  your 
mind,  that,  with  due  submission  to  Providence,  a  man  of  genius  has 
been  seldom  ruined  but  by  himself'.  Your  Patron's  weakness  or 
insensibility  will  finally  do  you  little  hurt,  if  he  is  not  assisted  by 
your  own  passions.  Of  your  love  I  know  not  the  propriety,  nor 
can  estimate  the  power ;  but  in  love,  as  in  every  other  passion,  of 
which  hope  is  the  essence,  we  ought  always  to  remember  the  un- 
certainty of  events.  There  is,  indeed,  nothing  that  so  much  seduces 
reason  from  vigilance,  as  the  thought  of  passing  life  with  an  amia- 
ble woman  ;  and  if  all  would  happen  that  a  lover  fancies,  I  know 
not  what  other  terrestrial  happiness  would  deserve  pursuit.  But 
love  and  marriage  are  different  states.  Those  who  are  to  suffer 
the  evils  together,  and  to  suffer  often  for  the  sake  of  one  another, 
soon  lose  that  tenderness  of  look,  and  that  benevolence  of  mind, 

year,  will  be  at  Cashiobury.'  (The  reference  to  this  quotation  I  have 
mislaid.) 

'  Two  years  later  he  repeated  this  thought  in  the  lines  that  he  added 
to  Goldsmith's  Traveller.     /'^^A  under  Feb.  1766. 

'  We  may  compare  with  this  what  'old  Bentley'  said  : — '  Depend 
upon  it,  no  man  was  ever  written  down  but  by  himself.'  Boswell's 
Hebrides,  Oct,  i,  1773. 

which 


442  Love  and  marriage.  [a.d.  1762. 

which  arose  from  the  participation  of  unmingled  pleasure  and  suc- 
cessive amusement.  A  woman,  we  are  sure,  will  not  be  always 
fair ;  we  are  not  sure  she  will  always  be  virtuous  :  and  man  cannot 
retain  through  life  that  respect  and  assiduity  by  which  he  pleases 
for  a  day  or  for  a  month.  I  do  not,  however,  pretend  to  have  dis- 
covered that  life  has  any  thing  more  to  be  desired  than  a  prudent 
and  virtuous  marriage ;  therefore  know  not  what  counsel  to  give  you. 

'  If  you  can  quit  your  imagination  of  love  and  greatness,  and 
leave  your  hopes  of  preferment  and  bridal  raptures  to  try  once 
more  the  fortune  of  literature  and  industry,  the  way  through  France 
is  now  open'.  We  flatter  ourselves  that  we  shall  cultivate,  with 
great  diligence,  the  arts  of  peace ;  and  every  man  will  be  welcome 
among  us  who  can  teach  us  any  thing  we  do  not  know^.  For  your 
part,  you  will  find  all  your  old  friends  willing  to  receive  you. 

'  Reynolds  still  continues  to  increase  in  reputation  and  in  riches. 
Miss  Williams,  who  very  much  loves  you,  goes  on  in  the  old  way. 
Miss  Cotterel  is  still  with  Mrs.  Porter.  Miss  Charlotte  is  married 
to  Dean  Lewis,  and  has  three  children.  Mr.  Levet  has  married  a 
street-walker'.  But  the  gazette  of  my  narration  must  now  arrive 
to  tell  you,  that  Bathurst  went  physician  to  the  army,  and  died  at 
the  Havannah*. 

'  I  know  not  whether  I  have  not  sent  you  word  that  Huggins' 
and  Richardson'  are  both  dead.  When  we  see  our  enemies  and 
friends  gliding  away  before  us,  let  us  not  forget  that  we  are  subject 
to  the  general  law  of  mortality,  and  shall  soon  be  where  our  doom 
will  be  fixed  for  ever. 

'  I  prav  God  to  bless  you,  and  am,  Sir, 

'  Your  most  affectionate  humble  servant.  ^ 

'Write  soon.'  'Sam.  Johnson.' 

'  The  preliminaries  of  peace  between  England  and  France  had  been 
signed  on  Nov.  3  of  this  year.     Ann.  Reg.  v.  246. 

"^  Of  Baretti's  Travels  through  Spain,  &^c.,  Johnson  wrote  to  Mrs. 
Thrale  : — '  That  Baretti's  book  would  please  you  all  I  made  no  doubt. 
I  know  not  whether  the  world  has  ever  seen  such  Travels  before. 
Those  whose  lot  it  is  to  ramble  can  seldom  write,  and  those  who 
know  how  to  write  very  seldom  ramble.'     Pioszi  Letters,  \.  32. 

'  See  atite,  p.  428. 

*  See  ante,  p.  280.  note  2. 

'  Huggins  had  quarrelled  with  Johnson  and  Baretti  (Croker's  Bos- 
well,  129,  note).     See  -eHi^o  post,  1780,  in  Mr.  Langton"s  Collection. 

*  See  ante,  p.  428, 


Aetat.  54.]  yollUSOilS  LiFE   OF  CoLLINS.  443 

1763:  /ETAT.  54.] — In  1763  he  furnished  to  TJic  Poetical 
Calendar,  pubHshed  by  Fawkes  and  Woty,  a  character  of 
Collins'^,  which  he  afterwards  ingrafted  into  his  entire  hfe  of 
that  admirable  poet',  in  the  collection  of  lives  which  he  wrote 
for  the  body  of  English  poetry,  formed  and  published  by  the 
booksellers  of  London,  His  account  of  the  melancholy  de- 
pression with  which  Collins  was  severely  afflicted,  and  which 
brought  him  to  his  grave,  is,  I  think,  one  of  the  most  tender 
and  interesting  passages  in  the  whole  series  of  his  writings\ 
He  also  favoured  Mr.  Hoole  with  the  Dedication  of  his 
translation  of  Tasso  to  the  Queen,'^  which  is  so  happily  con- 
ceived and  elegantly  expressed,  that  I  cannot  but  point  it 
out  to  the  peculiar  notice  of  my  readers'. 


'  Cowper,  writing  in  1784  about  Collins,  says  : — '  Of  whom  I  did  not 
know  that  he  existed  till  I  found  him  there ' — in  the  Lh>cs  of  the  Poets, 
that  is  to  say.     Southey's  Cowper,  v.  1 1. 

*  To  this  passage  Johnson,  nearly  twenty  years  later,  added  the  fol- 
lowing ( Works,  viii.  403) : — '  Such  was  the  fate  of  Collins,  with  whom 
I  once  delighted  to  converse,  and  whom  I  yet  remember  with  tender- 
ness.' 

' '  Madam, 

To  approach  the  high  and  the  illustrious  has  been  in  all  ages 
the  privilege  of  Poets ;  and  though  translators  cannot  justly  claim 
the  same  honour,  yet  they  naturally  follow  their  authours  as  attend- 
ants ;  and  I  hope  that  in  return  for  having  enabled  Tasso  to  diffuse 
his  fame  through  the  British  dominions,  I  may  be  introduced  by  him 
to  the  presence  of  Your  Majesty. 

Tasso  has  a  peculiar  claim  to  Your  Majesty's  favour,  as  follower 
and  panegyrist  of  the  House  of  Este,  which  has  one  common  ancestor 
with  the  House  of  Hanover;  and  in  reviewing  his  life  it  is  not  easy 
to  forbear  a  wish  that  he  had  lived  in  a  happier  time,  when  he  might, 
among  the  descendants  of  that  illustrious  family,  have  found  a  more 
liberal  and  potent  patronage. 

I  cannot  but  observe,  Madam,  how  unequally  reward  is  propor- 
tioned to  merit,  when  I  reflect  that  the  happiness  which  was  withheld 
from  Tasso  is  reser\^ed  for  me  ;  and  that  the  poem  which  once  hardly 
procured  to  its  authour  the  countenance  of  the  Princess  of  Ferrara, 
has  attracted  to  its  translator  the  favourable  notice  of  a  British 
Queen. 

Had  this  been  the  fate  of  Tasso,  he  would  have  been  able  to  have 

This 


444  Boswell  meets  yohnson.  [a.d.  1763. 


This  is  to  me  a  memorable  year ;  for  in  it  I  had  the  happi- 
ness to  obtain  the  acquaintance  of  that  extraordinary  man 
whose  memoirs  I  am  now  writing ;  an  acquaintance  which  I 
shall  ever  esteem  as  one  of  the  most  fortunate  circumstances 
in  my  life.     Though  then  but  two -and -twenty',  I  had  for 

celebrated  the  condescension  of  Your  Majesty  in  nobler  language, 
but  could  not  have  felt  it  with  more  ardent  gratitude,  than 

Madam, 

Your  Majesty's 
Most  faithful  and  devoted  servant.' 
— BOSWELL. 

'  Young  though  Boswell  was,  he  had  already  tried  his  hand  at  more 
than  one  kind  of  writing.  In  1761  he  had  published  anonymously  an 
Elegy  on  the  Death  of  an  Amiable  Young  Lady,  with  an  Epistle  from 
Menalcas  to  Lyeidas.  (Edinburgh,  Donaldson.)  The  Elegy  is  full  of 
such  errors  as  'Thou  liv'd,'  'Thou  led,' but  is  recommended  by  a  puff- 
ing preface  and  three  letters — one  of  which  is  signed  J—  B — .  About 
the  same  time  he  brought  out  a  piece  that  was  even  more  impudent. 
It  Via.?,  An  Ode  to  Tragedy.  By  a  gentleman  of  Scotland.  (Edinburgh, 
Donaldson,  1761.  Price  sixpence.)  In  the  '  Dedication  to  James  Bos- 
well, Esq.,'  he  says  : — '  I  have  no  intention  to  pay  you  compliments — 
To  entertain  agreeable  notions  of  one's  own  character  is  a  great  in- 
centive to  act  with  propriety  and  spirit.  But  I  should  be  sorry  to 
contribute  in  any  degree  to  your  acquiring  an  excess  of  self-sufficiency 
...  I  own  indeed  that  when  ...  to  display  my  extensive  erudition,  I 
have  quoted  Greek.  Latin,  and  French  sentences  one  after  another 
with  astonishing  celerity;  or  have  got  into  my  Old-hock  Jnimour  and 
fallen  a-raving  about  princes  and  lords,  knights  and  geniuses,  ladies 
of  quality  and  harpsichords ;  you,  with  a  peculiar  comic  smile,  have 
gently  reminded  me  of  the  importance  of  a  inan  to  himself,  and  slily 
left  the  room  with  the  witty  Dean  lying  open  at — '9. V.  clerk  of  this 
parish  [Swift's  Works,  ^A.  1803,  xxiii.  142].  I,  Sir,  who  enjoy  the  pleas- 
ure of  your  intimate  acquaintance,  know  that  many  of  your  hours  of 
retirement  are  devoted  to  thought.'  The  Ode  is  serious.  He  describes 
himself  as  having 

.    '  A  soul  by  nature  formed  to  feel 
Grief  sharper  than  the  tyrant's  steel, 
And  bosom  big  with  swelling  thought 
From  ancient  lore's  remembrance  brought.' 
In  the  winter  of  1761-2  he  had  helped  as  a  contributor  and  part-editor 
in  bringing  out  a  Collection  of  Original  Poems.     (Bosivell  and  Erskine's 
Letters,  p.  27.)      His  next  publication,  also  anonymous,  was  The  Cub 

several 


Aetat.  54.]  Dictionary  yohjison.  445 

several  years  read  his  works  with  deHght  and  instruction, 
and  had  the  highest  reverence  for  their  authour,  which  had 
grown  up  in  my  fancy  into  a  kind  of  mysterious  veneration', 
by  figuring  to  myself  a  state  of  solemn  elevated  abstraction, 
in  which  I  supposed  him  to  live  in  the  immense  metropolis 
of  London.  Mr.  Gentleman,  a  native  of  Ireland,  who  passed 
some  years  in  Scotland  as  a  player,  and  as  an  instructor  in 
the  English  language,  a  man  whose  talents  and  worth  were 
depressed  by  misfortunes",  had  given  me  a  representation  of 
the  figure  and  manner  of  Dicti(3NARY  Johnson  !  as  he  was 
then  generally  called';  and  during  my  first  visit  to  London, 

at  Newmarket ,  written,  as  the  Preface  says, '  in  the  Newmarket  Coffee 
Room,  in  which  the  author,  being  elected  a  member  of  the~J<5rtJ6y 
Club,  had  the  happiness  of  passing  several  sprightly  good-humoured 
evenings.'  It  is  very  poor  stuff.  In  the  winter  of  1762-3  he  joined  in 
writing  the  Critical  Strictures,  mentioned  post,  June  25,  1763.  Just 
about  the  time  that  he  first  met  Johnson  he  and  his  friend  the  Hon. 
Andrew  Erskine  had  published  in  their  own  names  a  very  impudent 
little  volume  of  the  correspondence  that  had  passed  between  them. 
Of  this  I  published  an  edition  with  notes  in  1879, -together  with 
Boswell's  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  Corsica.  (Messrs.  Thos.  De  La  Rue 
&Co.) 

'  Boswell,  in  1768,  in  the  preface  to  the  third  edition  of  his  Corsica 
described  '  the  warmth  of  affection  and  the  dignity  of  veneration  '  with 
which  he  never  ceased  to  think  of  Mr.  Johnson. 

'In  the  Garrick  Corres.  (ii.  83)  there  is  a  confused  letter  from  this 
unfortunate  man,  asking  Garrick  for  the  loan  of  five  guineas.  He 
had  a  scheme  for  delivering  dramatic  lectures  at  Eton  and  Oxford ; 
'but,'  he  added,  'my  externals  have  so  unfavourable  an  appearance 
that  I  cannot  produce  myself  with  any  comfort  or  hope  of  success.' 
Garrick  sent  him  five  guineas.  He  had  been  a  Major  in  the  army,  an 
actor,  and  dramatic  author.  '  For  the  last  seven  years  of  his  life  he 
struggled  under  sickness  and  want  to  a  degree  of  uncommon  misery.' 
Gent.  Mag.  for  1784,  p.  959. 

'  As  great  men  of  antiquity  such  as  Scipio  Africanus  had  an  epithet 
added  to  their  names,  in  consequence  of  some  celebrated  action,  so 
my  illustrious  friend  was  often  called  Dictionary  Johnson,  from 
that  wonderful  atchievement  of  genius  and  labour,  his  Dictionary  of 
the  English  Language  ;  the  merit  of  which  I  contemplate  with  more 
and  more  admiration.  Boswell.  In  like  manner  we  have  '  Hermes 
Harris,'   '  Pliny   Melmoth,'  '  Demosthenes  Taylor,'   '  PersiT''   Jones,' 

which 


446  yohnsoiis  quarrel  with  Sherida?!.     [a. d.  1763. 

which  was  for  three  months  in  1760,  Mr.  Derrick  the  poet', 
who  was  Gentleman's  friend  and  countryman,  flattered  me 
with  hopes  that  he  would  introduce  me  to  Johnson,  an  hon- 
our of  which  I  was  very  ambitious.  But  he  never  found  an 
opportunity ;  which  made  me  doubt  that  he  had  promised 
to  do  what  was  not  in  his  power;  till  Johnson  some  years 
afterwards  told  me,  *  Derrick,  Sir,  might  ver>'  well  have  intro- 
duced you.  I  had  a  kindness  for  Derrick,  and  am  sorry  he 
is  dead.' 

In  the  summer  of  1761  Mr.  Thomas  Sheridan  was  at  Edin- 
burgh, and  delivered  lectures  upon  the  English  Language 
and  Publick  Speaking  to  large  and  respectable  audiences.  I 
was  often  in  his  company,  and  heard  him  frequently  expa- 
tiate upon  Johnson's  extraordinary  knowledge,  talents,  and 
virtues,  repeat  his  pointed  sayings,  describe  his  particularities, 
and  boast  of  his  being  his  guest  sometimes  till  two  or  three 
in  the  morning.  At  his  house  I  hoped  to  have  many  oppor- 
tunities of  seeing  the  sage,  as  Mr.  Sheridan  obligingly  assured 
me  I  should  not  be  disappointed. 

When  I  returned  to  London  in  the  end  of  1762,  to  my 
surprise  and  regret  I  found  an  irreconcileable  difference  had 
taken  place  between  Johnson  and  Sheridan.  A  pension  of 
two  hundred  pounds  a  year  had  been  given  to  Sheridan. 
Johnson,  who,  as  has  been  already  mentioned,  thought  slight- 
ingly of  Sheridan's  art,  upon  hearing  that  he  was  also  pen- 
sioned, exclaimed,  '  What !  have  they  given  him  a  pension  ? 
Then  it  is  time  for  me  to  give  up  mine.'  Whether  this  pro- 
ceeded from  a  momentary  indignation,  as  if  it  were  an  affront 
to  his  exalted  merit  that  a  player  should  be  rewarded  in  the 
same  manner  with  him,  or  was  the  sudden  effect  of  a  fit  of 
peevishness,  it  was  unluckily  said,  and,  indeed,  cannot  be 
justified.  Mr.  Sheridan's  pension  was  granted  to  him  not  as 
a  player,  but  as  a  sufferer  in  the  cause  of  government,  when 

'  Abyssinian  Bruce,'  '  Microscope  Baker,'  '  Leonidas  Glover,'  '  Hesiod 
Cooke,'  and  '  Corsica  Boswell.' 

'  See  ante,  p.  144.  He  introduced  Boswell  to  Davies,  who  was  'the 
immediate  introducer.'     J'ost,  under  June  18,  1783,  note. 

he 


Aetat.  54.J  Sheridan  as  a  teacher  447 

he  was  manager  of  the  Theatre  Royal  in  Ireland,  when  par- 
ties ran  high  in  1753'.  And  it  must  also  be  allowed  that  he 
was  a  man  of  literature,  and  had  considerably  improved  the 
arts  of  reading  and  speaking  with  distinctness  and  propriety. 
Besides,  Johnson  should  have  recollected  that  Mr.  Sheri- 
dan taught  pronunciation  to  Mr.  Alexander  Wedderburne', 
whose  sister  was  married  to  Sir  Harry  Erskinc',  an  intimate 
friend  of  Lord  Bute,  who  was  the  favourite  of  the  King  ;  and 
surely  the  most  outrageous  Whig  will  not  maintain,  that, 
whatever  ought  to  be  the  principle  in  the  disposal  of  offices, 
a  pension  ought  never  to  be  granted  from  any  bias  of  court 
connection.  Mr.  Macklin*,  indeed,  shared  with  Mr.  Sheridan 
the  honour  of  instructing  Mr.  Wedderburne  ;  and  though  it 
was  too  late  in  life  for  a  Caledonian  to  acquire  the  genuine 
English  cadence,  yet  so  successful  were  Mr.  VVedderburne's 
instructors,  and  his  own  unabating  endeavours,  that  he  got 
rid  of  the  coarse  part  of  his  Scotch  accent,  retaining  only  as 
much  of  the  '  native  wood-note  wild','  as  to  mark  his  country; 


'  On  March  2,  1754  (not  1753),  the  audience  called  for  a  repetition 
of  some  lines  which  they  applied  against  the  government.  '  Diggs, 
the  actor,  refused  by  order  of  Sheridan,  the  manager,  to  repeat  them; 
Sheridan  would  not  even  appear  on  the  stage  to  justify  the  prohibition. 
In  an  instant  the  audience  demolished  the  inside  of  the  house,  and 
reduced  it  to  a  shell.'  Walpole's  Reign  of  George  II,  i.  389,  and  Getit. 
Mag.  xxiv.  141,  Sheridan's  friend.  Mr.  S.  Whj^e,  says  {Miscellanea 
Nova,  p.  16)  : — '  In  the  year  1762  Sheridan's  scheme  for  an  English 
Dictionary  was  published.  That  memorable  year  he  was  nominated 
for  a  pension.'  He  quotes  (p.  1 1 1)  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Sheridan,  dated 
Nov.  29.  1762,  in  which  she  says  :— '  I  suppose  you  must  have  heard 
that  the  King  has  granted  him  a  pension  of  200/.  a  year,  merely  as  an 
encouragement  to  his  undertaking.' 

'  See  posf,  March  28,  1776. 

'  Horace  Walpole  describes  Lord  Bute  as  'a  man  that  had  passed 
his  life  in  solitude,  and  was  too  haughty  to  admit  to  his  familiarity 
but  half  a  dozen  silly  authors  and  flatterers.  Sir  Henry  Erskine,  a 
militar)'  poet,  Home,  a  tragedy -writing  parson,'  &c.  Mem.  of  the 
Reign  of  George  III,  i.  37. 

*  S^^  post,  March  28,  1776. 

*  '  Native  \iOoA-notes  wild.'     Milton's  L' Allegro.  1.  134. 

which, 


448  Lord  Loughborough.  [a. d.  1763. 

which,  if  any  Scotchman  should  affect  to  forget,  I  should 
heartily  despise  him.  Notwithstanding  the  difficulties  which 
are  to  be  encountered  by  those  who  have  not  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  an  English  education,  he  by  degrees  formed  a 
mode  of  speaking  to  which  Englishmen  do  not  deny  the 
praise  of  elegance.  Hence  his  distinguished  oratory,  which 
he  exerted  in  his  own  country  as  an  advocate  in  the  Court 
of  Session,  and  a  ruling  elder  of  the  Kirk,  has  had  its  fame 
and  ample  reward,  in  much  higher  spheres.  When  I  look 
back  on  this  noble  person  at  Edinburgh,  in  situations  so  un- 
worthy of  his  brilliant  powers,  and  behold  Lord  LOUGH- 
BOROUGH at  London,  the  change  seems  almost  like  one  of 
the  metamorphoses  in  Ovid ;  and  as  his  two  preceptors,  by 
refining  his  utterance,  gave  currency  to  his  talents,  we  may 
say  in  the  words  of  that  poet,  '  Nam  vos  )iij(tastis\' 

I  have  dwelt  the  longer  upon  this  remarkable  instance  of 
successful  parts  and  assiduity ;  because  it  affords  animating 
encouragement  to  other  gentlemen  of  North-Britain  to  try 
their  fortunes  in  the  southern  part  of  the  Island,  where  they 
may  hope  to  gratify  their  utmost  ambition  ;  and  now  that 
we  are  one  people  by  the  Union,  it  would  surely  be  illiberal 
to  maintain,  that  they  have  not  an  equal  title  with  the  na- 
tives of  any  other  part  of  his  Majesty's  dominions. 

Johnson  complained  that  a  man  who  disliked  him  repeated 
his  sarcasm  to  Mr.  Sheridan,  without  telling  him  what  fol- 
lowed, which  was,  that  after  a  pause  he  added,  '  However,  I 
am  glad  that  Mr.  Sheridan  has  a  pension,  for  he  is  a  very 
good  man.'  Sheridan  could  never  forgive  this  hasty  con- 
temptuous expression.  It  rankled  in  his  mind  ;  and  though 
I  informed  him  of  all  that  Johnson  said,  and  that  he  would 


'  '  In  nova  fert  animus  mutatas  dicere  formas 

Corpora.     Di  coeptis  (nam  vos  mutastis  et  ilJas) 
Adspirate  meis." 
'  Of  bodies  changed  to  various  forms  I  sing : — 
Ye  Gods  from  whence  these  miracles  did  spring 
Inspire,  &c.' — Drvden,  Ov.  Met.  i.  i. 
See  post  under  March  30,  1783,  for  Lord  Loughborough. 

be 


Aetat.  54.]        Sheridan  s  attack  on  yohnsoji.  449 

be  very  glad  to  meet  him  amicably,  he  positively  declined 
repeated  offers  which  I  made,  and  once  went  off  abruptly 
from  a  house  where  he  and  I  were  engaged  to  dine,  because 
he  was  told  that  Dr.  Johnson  was  to  be  there'.  I  have  no 
sympathetick  feeling  with  such  persevering  resentment.  It 
is  painful  when  there  is  a  breach  between  those  who  have 
lived  together  socially  and  cordially;  and  I  wonder  that 
there  is  not,  in  all  such  cases,  a  mutual  wish  that  it  should 
be  healed.  I  could  perceive  that  Mr.  Sheridan  was  by  no 
means  satisfied  with  Johnson's  acknowledging  him  to  be  a 
good  man".  That  could  not  sooth  his  injured  vanity.  I 
could  not  but  smile,  at  the  same  time  that  I  was  offended,  to 
observe  Sheridan  in  The  Life  of  Siviff,  which  he  afterwards 

'  See  post,  May  17,  1783,  and  June  24,  1784.  Sheridan  was  not  of  a 
forgiving  nature.  For  some  years  he  would  not  speak  to  his  famous 
son  :  yet  he  went  with  his  daughters  to  the  theatre  to  see  one  of  his 
pieces  performed.  'The  son  took  up  his  station  by  one  of  the  side 
scenes,  opposite  to  the  box  where  they  sat,  and  there  continued,  un- 
observed, to  look  at  them  during  the  greater  part  of  the  night.  On 
his  return  home  he  burst  into  tears,  and  owned  how  deeply  it  had 
gone  to  his  heart,  "  to  think  that  there  sat  his  father  and  his  sisters 
before  him,  and  yet  that  he  alone  was  not  permitted  to  go  near 
them."'     Moore's  S/ierida/i,  i.  167. 

*  As  Johnson  himself  said  : — '  Men  hate  more  steadily  than  they 
love;  and  if  I  have  said  something  to  hurt  a  man  once,  I  shall  not  get 
the  better  of  this  by  saying  many  things  to  please  him.'     Post,  Sept. 

15-  ^777- 

'^  P.  447.  BoswELL.  '  There  is  another  writer,  at  present  of  gigantic 
fame  in  these  days  of  little  men,  who  has  pretended  to  scratch  out 
a  life  of  Swift,  but  so  miserably  executed  as  only  to  reflect  back  on 
himself  that  disgrace  which  he  meant  to  throw  upon  the  character  of 
the  Dean."  T/ic  Life  of  Doctor  Swift,  Swift's  Works,  ed.  1803,  ii.  200. 
There  is  a  passage  in  the  Lives  of  the  Poets  {Works,  viii.  43)  in  which 
Johnson  might  be  supposed  playfully  to  have  anticipated  this  attack. 
He  is  giving  an  account  of  Blackmore's  imaginary  Literary  Club  of 
Lay  Monks,  of  which  the  hero  was  'one  Mr.  Johnson.'  'The  rest  of 
the  Lay  Monks,'  he  writes, '  seem  to  be  but  feeble  mortals,  in  compari- 
son with  the  gigantick  Johnson."  See  also/^j/,  Oct.  16,  1769.  Horace 
Walpole  {Letters,  v.  458)  spoke  no  less  scornfully  than  Sheridan  of 
Johnson  and  his  contemporaries.  On  April  27,  1773,  after  saying  that 
he  should  like  to  be  intimate  with  Anstey  (the  author  of  the  New 
I. — 29  published, 


450  Mrs,  Sheridan.  [a.d.  1768. 

published,  attempting,  in  the  writhings  of  his  resentment,  to 
depreciate  Johnson,  by  characterising  him  as  '  A  writer  of 
gigantick  fame  in  these  days  of  Httle  men  ;'  that  very  John- 
son whom  he  once  so  highly  admired  and  venerated. 

This  rupture  with  Sheridan  deprived  Johnson  of  one  of  his 
most  agreeable  resources  for  amusement  in  his  lonely  even- 
ings; for  Sheridan's  well-informed,  animated,  and  bustling 
mind  never  suffered  conversation  to  stagnate ;  and  Mrs. 
Sheridan'  was  a  most  agreeable  companion  to  an  intellectual 
man.  She  was  sensible,  ingenious,  unassuming,  yet  com- 
municative. I  recollect,  with  satisfaction,  many  pleasing 
hours  which  I  passed  with  her  under  the  hospitable  roof  of 
her  husband,  who  was  to  me  a  very  kind  friend.  Her  novel, 
entitled  Memoirs  of  Miss  Sydney  Biddulph,  contains  an  ex- 
cellent moral  while  it  inculcates  a  future  state  of  retribution'; 


Bath  Guide),  or  with  the  author  of  the  Heroic  Epistle,  he  continues : — 
'  I  have  no  thirst  to  know  the  rest  of  my  contemporaries,  from  the 
absurd  bombast  of  Dr.  Johnson  down  to  the  silly  Dr.  Goldsmith ; 
though  the  latter  changeling  has  had  bright  gleams  of  parts,  and  the 
former  had  sense,  till  he  changed  it  for  words,  and  sold  it  for  a  pen- 
sion. Don't  think  me  scornful.  Recollect  that  I  have  seen  Pope  and 
lived  with  Gray.' 

'  Johnson  is  thus  mentioned  by  Mrs.  Sheridan  in  a  letter  dated, 
Blois,  Nov.  1 6,  1743,  according  to  the  Garrick  Carres,  i.  17,  but  the  date 
is  wrongly  given,  as  the  Sheridans  went  to  Blois  in  1764:  'I  have 
heard  Johnson  decry  some  of  the  prettiest  pieces  of  writing  we  have 
in  English ;  yet  Johnson  is  an  honourable  man — that  is  to  say,  he  is  a 
good  critic,  and  in  other  respects  a  man  of  enormous  talents.' 

*  My  position  has  been  very  well  illustrated  by  Mr.  Belsham  of 
Bedford,  in  his  Essay  on  Draviattc  Poetry.  '  The  fashionable  doctrine 
(says  he)  both  of  moralists  and  criticks  in  these  times  is,  that  virtue 
and  happiness  are  constant  concomitants ;  and  it  is  regarded  as  a 
kind  of  dramatick  impiety  to  maintain  that  virtue  should  not  be  re- 
warded, nor  vice  punished  in  the  last  scene  of  the  last  act  of  every 
tragedy.  This  conduct  in  our  modern  poets  is,  however,  in  my  opin- 
ion, extremely  injudicious ;  for,  it  labours  in  vain  to  inculcate  a  doc- 
trine in  theory,  which  every  one  knows  to  be  false  in  fact,  vz's.  that 
virtue  in  real  life  is  always  productive  of  happiness ;  and  vice  of  mis- 
er)'. Thus  Congreve  concludes  the  Tragedy  of  The  Moiirnitig  Bride 
with  the  following  foolish  couplet : — 

and 


Aetat.54.]  Mrs.  Sheridan.  451 

and  what  it  teaches  is  impressed  upon  the  mind  by  a  series 
of  as  deep  distress  as  can  affect  humanity,  in  the  amiable  and 
pious  heroine  who  goes  to  her  grave  unrelieved,  but  resigned, 
and  full  of  hope  of  '  heaven's  mercy.'  Johnson  paid  her  this 
high  compliment  upon  it :  '  I  know  not,  Madam,  that  you 
have  a  right,  upon  moral  principles,  to  make  your  readers 
suffer  so  much'.' 

'  For  blessings  ever  wait  on  virtuous  deeds, 
And  though  a  late,  a  sure  reward  succeeds.' 

'  When  a  man  eminently  virtuous,  a  Brutus,  a  Cato,  or  a  Socrates, 
finally  sinks  under  the  pressure  of  accumulated  misfortune,  we  are  not 
only  led  to  entertain  a  more  indignant  hatred  of  vice  than  if  he  rose 
from  his  distress,  but  we  are  inevitably  induced  to  cherish  the  sublime 
idea  that  a  day  of  future  retribution  will  arrive  when  he  shall  receive 
not  merely  poetical,  but  real  and  substantial  justice.'  Essays  PJtilo- 
sophical.  Historical,  atid  Literary,  London,  1791,  vol.  II.  8vo.  p.  317. 

This  is  well  reasoned  and  well  expressed.  I  wish,  indeed,  that  the 
ingenious  authour  had  not  thought  it  necessary  to  introduce  any  in- 
stance of  ■  a  man  eminently  virtuous ;'  as  he  would  then  have  avoided 
mentioning  such  a  ruffian  as  Brutus  under  that  description.  Mr.  Bel- 
sham  discovers  in  his  Essays  so  much  reading  and  thinking,  and  good 
composition,  that  I  regret  his  not  having  been  fortunate  enough  to 
be  educated  a  member  of  our  excellent  national  establishment.  Had 
he  not  been  nursed  in  nonconformity,  he  probably  would  not  have 
been  tainted  with  those  heresies  (as  I  sincerely,  and  on  no  slight  in- 
vestigation, think  them)  both  in  religion  and  politicks,  which,  while  I 
read,  I  am  sure,  with  candour,  I  cannot  read  without  offence.  Bos- 
WELL.  Boswell's  '  position  has  been  illustrated  '  with  far  greater  force 
by  Johnson.  '  It  has  been  the  boast  of  some  swelling  moralists,  that 
ever)-  man's  fortune  was  in  his  own  power,  that  prudence  supplied  the 
place  of  all  other  divinities,  and  that  happiness  is  the  unfailing  conse- 
quence of  virtue.  But  surely  the  quiver  of  Omnipotence  is  stored 
with  arrows  against  which  the  shield  of  human  virtue,  however  ada- 
mantine it  has  been  boasted,  is  held  up  in  vain ;  we  do  not  always 
suffer  by  our  crimes ;  we  are  not  always  protected  by  our  innocence.' 
TJic  Advc7tturer,  No.  120.     See  also  Rassclas,  chap.  27. 

'  'Charles  Fox  said  that  Mrs.  Sheridan's  Sydney  Biddulph  was  the 
best  of  all  modern  novels.  By  the  by  [R.  B.]  Sheridan  used  to  de- 
clare that  he  had  never  read  it.'  Rogers's  Table-  Talk,  p.  90.  The 
editor  says,  in  a  note  on  this  passage : — '  The  incident  in  The  School 
for  Scandal  of  Sir  Oliver's  presenting  himself  to  his  relations  in  dis- 
guisr  is  manifestly  taken  by  Sheridan  from  his  mother's  novel.' 

Mr. 


45^  ^^-  Thomas  Davies.  [a.d.  1763. 


Mr.  Thomas  Davies  the  actor,  who  then  kept  a  bookseller's 
shop  in  Russel-street,  Covent-garden',  told  me  that  Johnson 
was  very  much  his  friend,  and  came  frequently  to  his  house, 
where  he  more  than  once  invited  me  to  meet  him  ;  but  by 
some  unlucky  accident  or  other  he  was  prevented  from  com- 
ing to  us. 

Mr.  Thomas  Davies  was  a  man  of  good  understanding  and 
talents,  with  the  advantage  of  a  liberal  education\  Though 
somewhat  pompous,  he  was  an  entertaining  companion  ;  and 
his  literary  performances'  have  no  inconsiderable  share  of 
merit.  He  was  a  friendly  and  very  hospitable  man.  Both 
he  and  his  wife,  (who  has  been  celebrated  for  her  beauty*,) 

'  No.  8. — The  very  place  where  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  be  intro- 
duced to  the  illustrious  subject  of  th-is  work,  deserves  to  be  particu- 
larly marked.     I  never  pass  by  it  without  feeling  reverence  and  regret. 

BOSWEI.L. 

'  Johnson  said  : — '  Sir,  Davies  has  learning  enough  to  give  credit  to 
a  clergyman.'  Post,  1780,  in  Mr.  Langton's  Collection.  The  spiteful 
Steevens  thus  wrote  about  Davies : — '  His  concern  ought  to  be  with 
the  outside  of  books ;  but  Dr.  Johnson,  Dr.  Percy,  and  some  others 
have  made  such  a  coxcomb  of  him,  that  he  is  now  hardy  enough  to 
open  volumes,  turn  over  their  leaves,  and  give  his  opinions  of  their 
contents.  Did  I  ever  tell  you  an  anecdote  of  him  ">  About  ten  years 
ago  I  wanted  the  Oxford  Homer,  and  called  at  Daviess  to  ask  for  it,  as 
I  had  seen  one  thrown  about  his  shop.  Will  you  believe  me,  when  I 
assure  you  he  told  me  "  he  had  but  one,  and  that  he  kept  for  his  own 
reading}"  '     Gar  rick  Carres,  i.  608. 

'  Johnson,  writing  to  Beattie,  j2^^^/,  Aug.  21,  1780,  says  : — '  Mr.  Davies 
has  got  great  success  as  an  author,  generated  by  the  corruption  of  a 
bookseller.'  His  principal  works  are  Memoirs  of  Garrick,  1780,  and 
Dramatic  Miscellanies,  1784. 

*  Churchill,  in  the  Rosciad,  thus  celebrated  his  wife  and  mocked  his 
recitation  : — 

'With  him  came  mighty  Davies.     On  my  life 
That  Davies  hath  a  very  pretty  wife : — 
Statesman  all  over  ! — In  plots  famous  grown  ! — 
He  mouths  a  sentence,  as  curs  mouth  a  bone.' 

Churchill's  Poems,  i.  16. 
See  fost,  under  April  20,  1764,  and  March  20,  1778.     Charles  Lamb  in 
a  note  to  his  Essay  on  the  Tragedies  of  Shakespeare  says  of  Davies. 
that  he  '  is  recorded  to  have  recited  the  Paradise  Lost  better  than  any 

though 


Aetat.54]  Mr.  Daviess  back-parlour.  453 

though  upon  the  stage  for  many  years,  maintained  an  uni- 
form decency  of  character;  and  Johnson  esteemed  them, 
and  lived  in  as  easy  an  intimacy  with  them,  as  with  any 
family  which  he  used  to  visit'.  Mr.  Davies  recollected  sev- 
eral of  Johnson's  remarkable  sayings,  and  was  one  of  the 
best  of  the  many  imitators  of  his  voice  and  manner,  while 
relating  them.  He  increased  my  impatience  more  and  more 
to  see  the  extraordinary  man  whose  works  I  highly  valued, 
and  whose  conversation  was  reported  to  be  so  peculiarly 
excellent. 

At  last,  on  Monday  the  i6th  of  May,  when  I  was  sitting 
in  Mr.  Davies's  back-parlour,  after  having  drunk  tea  with  him 
and  Mrs.  Davies,  Johnson  unexpectedly  came  into  the  shop' ; 
and  Mr.  Davies  having  perceived  him  through  the  glass-door 
in  the  room  in  which  we  were  sitting,  advancing  towards  us, 
— he  announced  his  aweful  approach  to  me,  somewhat  in  the 
manner  of  an  actor  in  the  part  of  Horatio,  when  he  addresses 
Hamlet  on  the  appearance  of  his  father's  ghost,  '  Look,  my 
Lord,  it  comes.'  I  found  that  I  had  a  very  perfect  idea  of 
Johnson's  figure,  from  the  portrait  of  him  painted  by  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds  soon  after  he  had  published  his  Dictionary, 
in  the  attitude  of  sitting  in  his  easy  chair  in  deep  medita- 
tion, which  was  the  first  picture  his  friend  did  for  him,  which 
Sir  Joshua  very  kindly  presented  to  me,  and  from  which  an 

man  in  England  in  his  day  (though  I  cannot  help  thinking  there  must 
be  some  mistake  in  this  tradition).'     Lamb's  Works,  ed.  1840,  p.  517. 

'  See  Johnson's  letter  to  Davies, /t^i-/,  June  18,  1783. 

*  Mr.  Murphy,  in  his  Essay  on  the  Life  and  Genius  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
[p.  106],  has  given  an  account  of  this  meeting  considerably  different 
from  mine,  I  am  persuaded  without  any  consciousness  of  errour.  His 
memor\\  at  the  end  of  near  thirty  years,  has  undoubtedly  deceived 
him,  and  he  supposes  himself  to  have  been  present  at  a  scene,  which 
he  has  probably  heard  inaccurately  described  by  others.  In  my  note 
taken  on  the  very  day,  in  which  I  am  confident  I  marked  every  thing 
material  that  passed,  no  mention  is  made  of  this  gentleman  ;  and  I  am 
sure,  that  I  should  not  have  omitted  one  so  well  known  in  the  literary 
world.  It  may  easily  be  imagined  that  this,  my  first  interview  with 
Dr.  Johnson,  with  all  its  circumstances,  made  a  strong  impression  on 
my  mind,  and  would  be  registered  with  peculiar  attention.    Boswell. 

engraving 


454  BoswcUs  introduction  to  Johnson,    [a.d.  1768. 

engraving  has  been  made  for  this  work.  Mr.  Davies  men- 
tioned my  name,  and  respectfully  introduced  me  to  him.  I 
was  much  agitated  ;  and  recollecting  his  prejudice  against  the 
Scotch,  of  which  I  had  heard  much,  I  said  to  Davies,  '  Don't 
tell  where  I  come  from.' — '  From  Scotland,'  cried  Davies 
roguishly.  '  Mr.  Johnson,  (said  I)  I  do  indeed  come  from 
Scotland,  but  I  cannot  help  it'.'  I  am  willing  to  flatter  my- 
self that  I  meant  this  as  light  pleasantry  to  sooth  and  con- 
ciliate him,  and  not  as  an  humiliating  abasement  at  the 
expence  of  my  country.  But  however  that  might  be,  this 
speech  was  somewhat  unlucky ;  for  with  that  quickness  of 
wit  for  which  he  was  so  remarkable,  he  seized  the  expression 
'  come  from  Scotland,'  which  I  used  in  the  sense  of  being  of 
that  country;  and,  as  if  I  had  said  that  I  had  come  away 
from  it,  or  left  it,  retorted,  '  That,  Sir,  I  find,  is  what  a  very 
great  many  of  your  countrymen  cannot  help.'  This  stroke 
stunned  me  a  good  deal ;  and  when  we  had  sat  down,  I  felt 
myself  not  a  little  embarrassed,  and  apprehensive  of  what 
might  come  next.  He  then  addressed  himself  to  Davies : 
'What  do  you  think  of  Garrick?  He  has  refused  me  an 
order  for  the  play  for  Miss  Williams,  because  he  knows  the 
house  will  be  full,  and  that  an  order  would  be  worth  three 
shillings.'  Eager  to  take  any  opening  to  get  into  conversa- 
tion with  him,  I  ventured  to  say,  '  O,  Sir,  I  cannot  think  Mr. 
Garrick  would  grudge  such  a  trifle  to  you.'  '  Sir,  (said  he, 
with  a  stern  look,)  I  have  known  David  Garrick  longer  than 
you  have  done  :  and  I  know  no  right  you  have  to  talk  to  me 
on  the  subject."  Perhaps  I  deserved  this  check  ;  for  it  was 
rather  presumptuous  in  me,  an  entire  stranger,  to  express  any 
doubt  of  the  justice  of  his  animadversion  upon  his  old  ac- 
quaintance and  pupil".     I  now  felt  myself  much  mortified, 


'  %&Q post,  April  8,  1775. 

^  That  this  was  a  momentary  sally  against  Garrick  there  can  be  no 
doubt ;  for  at  Johnson's  desire  he  had,  some  years  before,  given  a 
benefit-night  at  his  theatre  to  this  very  person,  by  which  she  had  got 
two  hundred  pounds.  Johnson,  indeed,  upon  all  other  occasions,  when 
I  was  in  his  company,  praised  the  very  liberal  charity  of  Garrick.     I 

and 


Aetat.54.j    His  Jirst  record  of  Johnson  s  talk,  455 

and  began  to  think  that  the  hope  which  I  had  long  indulged 
of  obtaining  his  acquaintance  was  blasted.  And,  in  truth, 
had  not  my  ardour  been  uncommonly  strong,  and  my  reso- 
lution uncommonly  persevering,  so  rough  a  reception  might 
have  deterred  me  for  ever  from  making  any  further  attempts. 
Fortunately,  however,  I  remained  upon  the  field  not  wholly 
discomfited  ;  and  was  soon  rewarded  by  hearing  some  of  his 
con\'ersation,  of  which  I  preserved  the  following  short  min- 
ute, without  marking  the  questions  and  observations  by 
which  it  was  produced. 

'  People  (he  remarked)  may  be  taken  in  once,  who  imagine 
that  an  authour  is  greater  in  private  life  than  other  men. 
Uncommon  parts  require  uncommon  opportunities  for  their 
exertion. 

'  In  barbarous  society,  superiority  of  parts  is  of  real  conse- 
quence. Great  strength  or  great  wisdom  is  of  much  value  to 
an  individual.  But  in  more  polished  times  there  are  people 
to  do  every  thing  for  money;  and  then  there  are  a  number 
of  other  superiorities,  such  as  those  of  birth  and  fortune,  and 
rank,  that  dissipate  men's  attention,  and  leave  no  extraordi- 
nary' share  of  respect  for  personal  and  intellectual  superior- 
ity. This  is  wisely  ordered  by  Providence,  to  preserve  some 
equality  among  mankind.' 

'  Sir,  this  book  {The  Elements  of  Criticism',  which  he  had 
taken  up,)  is  a  pretty  essay,  and  deserves  to  be  held  in  some 
estimation,  though  much  of  it  is  chimerical.' 


once  mentioned  to  him,  '  It  is  observed,  Sir,  that  you  attack  Garrick 
yourself,  but  will  suffer  nobody  else  to  do  it.'  Johnson,  (smiling) 
*  Why.  Sir,  that  is  true."  BOSWELL.  S^t  post.  May  15,  1776.  and  April 
17.  1778. 

'  By  Henry  Home,  Lord  Karnes,  3  vols.  Edinburgh,  1762.  See  post, 
Oct.  16.  1769.  'Johnson  laughed  much  at  Lord  Karnes's  opinion  that 
war  was  a  good  thing  occasionally,  as  so  much  valour  and  virtue  were 
exhibited  in  it.  "  A  fire,"  says  Johnson,  "  might  as  well  be  thought  a 
good  thing ;  there  is  the  bravery  and  address  of  the  firemen  employed 
in  extinguishing  it;  there  is  much  humanity  exerted  in  saving  the 
lives  and  properties  of  the  poor  sufferers;  yet  after  all  this,  who  can 
say  a  fire  is  a  good  thing?"  '    Johnson's  Works,  (1787)  xi.  209. 

Speaking 


456  Sheridan  s  lectures  on   Oratory.       [a. d.  1768. 

Speaking  of  one  who  with  more  than  ordinary  boldness 
attacked  publick  measures  and  the  royal  family,  he  said, 

'  I  think  he  is  safe  from  the  law,  but  he  is  an  abusive 
scoundrel ;  and  instead  of  applying  to  my  Lord  Chief  Justice 
to  punish  him,  I  would  send  half  a  dozen  footmen  and  have 
him  well  ducked'.' 

'  The  notion  of  liberty  amuses  the  people  of  England,  and 
helps  to  keep  off  the  tccdiitm  vitcc.  When  a  butcher  tells 
you  that  Jiis  heart  bleeds  for  Ids  country,  he  has,  in  fact,  no 
uneasy  feeling.' 

'  Sheridan  will  not  succeed  at  Bath  with  his  oratory.  Ridi- 
cule has  gone  down  before  him,  and,  I  doubt,  Derrick  is  his 
enemy'\' 

'  No.  45  of  the  North  Briton  had  been  published  on  April  23. 
Wilkes  was  arrested  under  a  general  warrant  on  April  30.  On  May  6 
he  was  discharged  from  custody  by  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  be- 
fore which  he  had  been  brought  by  a  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus.  A  few 
days  later  he  was  served  with  a  subpoena  upon  an  information  exhib- 
ited against  him  by  the  Attorney  -  General  in  the  Court  of  King's 
Bench.  He  did  not  enter  an  appearance,  holding,  as  he  said,  the  serv- 
ing him  with  the  subpoena  as  a  violation  of  the  privilege  of  parlia- 
ment.    Part.  H/'st.xv.  \2,(>o. 

^  Mr.  Sheridan  was  then   reading  lectures  upon  Oratory  at  Bath, 
where  Derrick  was  Master  of  the  Ceremonies ;  or,  as  the  phrase  is. 
King.     Boswp:ll.     Dr.  Parr,  who  knew  Sheridan  well,  describes  him 
'as  a  wrong-headed,  whimsical  man.'     'I  remember,'  he  continues, 
'  hearing  one  of  his  daughters,  in  the  house  where  I  lodged,  trium- 
phantly repeat  Dryden's  Ode  upon  St.  Cecilia  s  Day,  according  to  the 
instruction  given  to  her  by  her  father.     Take  a  sample : — 
"  None  but  the  brave 
None  but  the  brave 
None  but  the  brave  deserve  the  fair." 
Naughty  Richard  [R.  B.  Sheridan],  like  Gallio,  seemed  to  care  nought 
for  the.se  things.'     Moore's  Sheridan,  i.  9,  ii.     Sheridan  writing  from 
Dublin  on  Dec.  7,  1771,  says: — 'Never  was  party  violence  carried  to 
such  a  height  as  in  this  session  ;  the  House  [the  Irish  House  of  Par- 
liament] seldom  breaking  up  till  eleven  or  twelve  at  night.     From 
these  contests  the  desire  of  improving  in  the  article  of  elocution  is 
become  very  general.    There  are  no  less  than  five  persons  of  rank  and 
fortune  now  waiting  my  leisure  to  become  my  pupils.'     lb.  p.  60.     See 
post,  July  28,  1763. 

'  Derrick 


Aetat.  54.J      Boszvclfsjirsl  call  on  Joluisoji.  457 

'  Derrick  may  do  very  well,  as  long  as  he  can  outrun  his 
character ;  but  the  moment  his  character  gets  up  with  him, 
it  is  all  over.* 

It  is,  however,  but  just  to  record,  that  some  years  after- 
wards, when  I  reminded  him  of  this  sarcasm,  he  said,  '  Well, 
but  Derrick  has  now  got  a  character  that  he  need  not  run 
away  from.' 

I  was  highly  pleased  with  the  extraordinary  vigour  of  his 
conversation,  and  regretted  that  I  was  drawn  away  from  it 
by  an  engagement  at  another  place.  I  had,  for  a  part  of  the 
evening,  been  left  alone  with  him,  and  had  ventured  to  make 
an  observation  now  and  then,  which  he  received  very  civilly  ; 
so  that  I  was  satisfied  that  though  there  was  a  roughness  in 
his  manner,  there  was  no  ill-nature  in  his  disposition.  Davies 
followed  me  to  the  door,  and  when  I  complained  to  him  a 
little  of  the  hard  blows  which  the  great  man  had  given  me, 
he  kindly  took  upon  him  to  console  me  by  saying,  '  Don't 
be  uneasy.     I  can  see  he  likes  you  very  well.' 

A  few  days  afterwards  I  called  on  Davies,  and  asked  him 
if  he  thought  I  might  take  the  liberty  of  waiting  on  Mr. 
Johnson  at  his  Chambers  in  the  Temple.  He  said  I  certainly 
might,  and  that  Mr.  Johnson  would  take  it  as  a  compliment. 
So  upon  Tuesday  the  24th  of  May,  after  havang  been  enliv- 
ened by  the  witty  sallies  of  Messieurs  Thornton',  Wilkes, 
Churchill  and  Lloyd^  with  whom  I  had  passed  the  morning, 


'  Bonnell  Thornton.     See  j2^f?^/,  July  i,  1763. 

'  Lloyd  was  one  of  a  remarkable  group  of  Westminster  boys.     He 
was  a  school-fellow  not  onl"  of  Churchill,  the  elder  Colman,  and  Cum- 
berland, but  also  of  Cowper  and  Warren  Hastings.     Bonnell  Thornton 
was  a  few  years  their  senior.    Not  many  weeks  after  this  meeting  with 
Boswell,  Lloyd  was  in   the  Fleet  prison.     Churchill  in  Independence 
{Poems,  ii.  310)  thus  addresses  the  Patrons  of  the  age  : — 
'  Hence,  ye  vain  boasters,  to  the  Fleet  repair 
And  ask,  with  blushes  ask,  if  Lloyd  is  there.' 
Of  the  four  men  who  thus  '  enlivened  '  Boswell.  two  were  dead  before 
the  end  of  the  following  year.     Churchill  went  first.     When  Lloyd 
heard  of  his  death,  '  "  I  shall  follow  poor  Charles,"  was  all  he  said,  as 
he  went  to  the  bed  from  which  he  never  rose  again.'     Thornton  lived 

I  boldly 


45^  The  Giant  in  his  den.  [a.d.  1763. 

T  boldly  repaired  to  Johnson.  His  Chambers  were  on  the 
first  floor  of  No.  i,  Inner-TempIe-lane,  and  I  entered  them 
with  an  impression  given  me  by  the  Reverend  Dr.  Blair',  of 
Edinburgh,  who  had  been  introduced  to  him  not  long  before, 
and  described  his  having  '  found  the  Giant  in  his  den  :'  an 
expression,  which,  when  I  came  to  be  pretty  well  acquainted 
with  Johnson,  I  repeated  to  him,  and  he  was  diverted  at  this 
picturesque  account  of  himself.  Dr.  Blair  had  been  presented 
to  him  by  Dr.  James  Fordyce".  At  this  time  the  controversy 
concerning  the  pieces  published  by  Mr.  James  Macpherson, 
as  translations  of  Ossian^,  was  at  its  height.  Johnson  had 
all  along  denied  their  authenticity;  and,  what  was  still  more 
provoking  to  their  admirers,  maintained  that  they  had  no 
merit.  The  subject  having  been  introduced  by  Dr.  Fordyce, 
Dr.  Blair,  relying  on  the  internal  evidence  of  their  antiquity, 
asked  Dr.  Johnson  whether  he  thought  any  man  of  a  modern 
age  could  have  written  such  poems?  Johnson  replied,  'Yes, 
Sir,  many  men,  many  women,  and  many  children'  Johnson, 
at  this  time,  did  not  know  that  Dr.  Blair  had  just  published 
a  Dissertation,  not  only  defending  their  authenticity,  but 
seriously  ranking  them  with  the  poems  of  Homer  and  Virgil; 
and  when  he  was  afterwards  informed  of  this  circumstance, 
he  expressed  some  displeasure  at  Dr.  Fordyce's  having  sug- 
gested the  topick,  and  said,  '  I  am  not  sorry  that  they  got 
thus  much  for  their  pains.     Sir,  it  was  like  leading  one  to 


three  or  four  years  longer.  Forster's  Essays,  ii.  217,  270,  289.  See  also 
his  L/fi-  of  Goldsmtthy  i.  264,  for  an  account  how  '  Lloyd  invited  Gold- 
smith to  sup  with  some  friends  of  Grub  Street,  and  left  him  to  pay  the 
reckoning.'  Thornton,  Lloyd,  Colman,  Cowper,  and  Joseph  Hill,  to 
whom  Cowper"s  famous  Epistle  was  addressed,  had  at  one  time  been 
members  of  the  Nonsense  Club.     Southey's  Cowper,  i.  37. 

'  The  author  of  the  well-known  sermons,  see  post,  under  Dec.  21 
1776. 

*  Ste.  post,  under  Dec.  9,  1784. 

3  See  post,  Feb.  7,  1775,  under  Dec.  24,  1783.  and  Boswell's  Hebrides. 
Nov.  10,  1773. 

*  'Sir,'  he  said  tcj  Reynolds,  'a  man  mi^ht  write  such  stuff  forever, 
if  he  would  abandon  his  mind  to  it;'  post,  under  March  30,  1783. 

talk 


Aetat.  54.]        Christopher  Smarfs  madness.  459 

talk  of  a  book  when  the  authour  is  concealed  behind  the 
door'.' 

He  received  me  very  courteously;  but,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, that  his  apartment,  and  furniture,  and  morning  dress, 
were  sufficiently  uncouth.  His  brown  suit  of  cloaths  looked 
very  rusty;  he  had  on  a  little  old  shrivelled  unpowdered  wig, 
which  was  too  small  for  his  head ;  his  shirt-neck  and  knees 
of  his  breeches  were  loose  ;  his  black  worsted  stockings  ill 
drawn  up ;  and  he  had  a  pair  of  unbuckled  shoes  by  way  of 
slippers.  But  all  these  slovenly  particularities  were  forgotten 
the  moment  that  he  began  to  talk.  Some  gentlemen,  whom 
I  do  not  recollect,  were  sitting  with  him  ;  and  when  they 
went  away,  I  also  rose ;  but  he  said  to  me, '  Nay,  don't  go.' 
'  Sir,  (said  I,)  I  am  afraid  that  I  intrude  upon  you.  It  is 
benevolent  to  allow  me  to  sit  and  hear  you.'  He  seemed 
pleased  with  this  compliment,  which  I  sincerely  paid  him, 
and  answered,  *  Sir,  I  am  obliged  to  any  man  who  visits  me.' 
I  have  preserved  the  following  short  minute  of  what  passed 
this  day : — 

'  Madness  frequently  discovers  itself  merely  by  unnecessary 
deviation  from  the  usual  modes  of  the  world.  My  poor 
friend  Smart  shewed  the  disturbance  of  his  mind,  by  falling 
upon  his  knees,  and  saying  his  prayers  in  the  street,  or  in  any 
other  unusual  place.  Now  although,  rationally  speaking,  it 
is  greater  madness  not  to  pray  at  all,  than  to  pray  as  Smart 
did,  I  am  afraid  there  are  so  many  who  do  not  pray,  that 
their  understanding  is  not  called  in  question.' 

Concerning  this  unfortunate  poet,  Christopher  Smart,  who 
was  confined  in  a  mad-house,  he  had,  at  another  time,  the 
following  conversation  with  Dr.  Burney  : — BURNEY.  '  How 
does  poor  Smart  do,  Sir;  is  he  likely  to  recover?'  JOHNSON. 
'  It  seems  as  if  his  mind  had  ceased  to  struggle  with  the  dis- 
ease ;  for  he  grows  fat  upon  it.'  BURNEY.  '  Perhaps,  Sir, 
that  may  be  from  want  of  exercise.'  Johnson.  *No,  Sir;he 
has  partly  as  much  exercise  as  he  used  to  have,  for  he  digs 
in  the  garden.     Indeed,  before  his  confinement,  he  used  for 

'  'Or  behind  the  screen '  some  one  might  have  added,  ante,  i.  188. 

exercise 


460  yohnsons  Christianity.  [a.d.  1768. 

exercise  to  walk  to  the  ale-house  ;  but  he  was  carried  back 
again.  I  did  not  think  he  ought  to  be  shut  up.  His  infirmi- 
ties were  not  noxious  to  society.  He  insisted  on  people 
praying  with  him' ;  and  I'd  as  lief  pray  with  Kit  Smart  as 
any  one  else.  Another  charge  was,  that  he  did  not  love 
clean  linen  ;  and  I  have  no  passion  for  it.' — Johnson  con- 
tinued. '  Mankind  have  a  great  aversion  to  intellectual 
labour^;  but  even  supposing  knowledge  to  be  easily  attain- 
able, more  people  would  be  content  to  be  ignorant  than 
would  take  even  a  little  trouble  to  acquire  it.' 

'  The  morality  of  an  action  depends  on  the  motive  from 
which  we  act.  If  I  fling  half  a  crown  to  a  beggar  with  in- 
tention to  break  his  head,  and  he  picks  it  up  and  buys  vic- 
tuals with  it,  the  physical  effect  is  good  ;  but,  with  respect  to 
me,  the  action  is  very  wrong.  So,  religious  exercises,  if  not 
performed  with  an  intention  to  please  GOD,  avail  us  nothing. 
As  our  Saviour  says  of  those  who  perform  them  from  other 
motives,  "  Verily  they  have  their  reward^" 

'  The  Christian  religion  has  very  strong  evidences*.  It, 
indeed,  appears  in  some  degree  strange  to  reason  ;  but  in 
History  we  have  undoubted  facts,  against  which,  reasoning  a 
priori,  we  have  more  arguments  than  we  have  for  them  ;  but 
then,  testimony  has  great  weight,  and  casts  the  balance.  I 
would  recommend  to  every  man  whose  faith  is  yet  unsettled, 
Grotius, — Dr.  Pearson, — and  Dr.  Clarke'.' 


'  Wesley  was  told  that  a  whole  waggon-load  of  Methodists  had  been 
lately  brought  before  a  Justice  of  the  Peace.  When  he  asked  what 
they  were  charged  with,  one  replied, '  Why  they  pretended  to  be  better 
than  other  people,  and  besides  they  prayed  from  morning  to  night.' 
Wesley's  Journal,  i.  361.  See  also  post,  1780,  near  the  end  of  Mr. 
Langton's  Collection. 

^  '  The  progress  which  the  understanding  makes  through  a  book 
has,'  he  said,  '  more  pain  than  pleasure  in  it ;'  post.  May  i,  1783. 

*  Matthew,  vi.  16. 

■*  Boswell,  it  is  clear,  in  the  early  days  of  his  acquaintance  with 
Johnson  often  led  the  talk  to  this  subject.  See  post,  June  25,  July  14, 
21,  and  28,  1763. 

'  St&  post,  April  7,  1778. 

Talkincf 


Aetat. 54.]  Johnsons  mode  of  life.  461 

Talking  of  Garrick,  he  said,  '  He  is  the  first  man  in  the 
world  for  sprightly  conversation.' 

When  I  rose  a  second  time  he  again  pressed  me  to  stay, 
which  I  did. 

He  told  me,  that  he  generally  went  abroad  at  four  in  the 
afternoon,  and  seldom  came  home  till  two  in  the  morning'. 
I  took  the  liberty  to  ask  if  he  did  not  think  it  wrong  to  live 
thus,  and  not  make  more  use  of  his  great  talents\  He  owned 
it  was  a  bad  habit.  On  reviewing,  at  the  distance  of  many 
years,  my  journal  of  this  period,  I  wonder  how,  at  my  first 
visit,  I  ventured  to  talk  to  him  so  freely,  and  that  he  bore  it 
with  so  much  indulgence. 

Before  we  parted,  he  was  so  good  as  to  promise  to  favour 
me  with  his  company  one  evening  at  my  lodgings ;  and,  as  I 
took  my  leave,  shook  me  cordially  by  the  hand.  It  is  almost 
needless  to  add,  that  I  felt  no  little  elation  at  having  now  so 
happily  established  an  acquaintance  of  which  I  had  been  so 
long  ambitious. 

My  readers  will,  I  trust,  excuse  me  for  being  thus  minutely 
circumstantial,  when  it  is  considered  that  the  acquaintance 
of  Dr.  Johnson  was  to  me  a  most  valuable  acquisition,  and 
laid  the  foundation  of  whatever  instruction  and  entertain- 
ment they  may  receive  from  my  collections  concerning  the 
great  subject  of  the  work  which  they  are  now  perusing. 

I  did  not  visit  him  again  till  Monday,  June  13,  at  which 
time  I  recollect  no  part  of  his  conversation,  except  that  when 
I  told  him  I  had  been  to  see  Johnson  ride  upon  three  horses\ 

'  He  finished  his  day,  '  however  late  it  might  be,'  by  taking  tea  at 
Miss  Williams's  lodgings  ;  post,  July  i,  1763. 

'  See  post,  under  Feb.  15,  1766,  Feb.  1767,  March  20,  1776,  and  Bos- 
well's  Hebrides,  Sept.  20,  1773,  where  Johnson  says  : — '  I  have  been 
trying  to  cure  my  laziness  all  my  life,  and  could  not  do  it.'  It  was 
this  kind  of  life  that  caused  so  much  of  the  remorse  which  is  seen  in 
his  Prayers  and  Meditations. 

*  Horace  Walpole  writing  on  June  12,  1759  (Letters,  iii.  231),  says  : — 
'  A  war  that  reaches  from  Muscov)'  to  Alsace,  and  from  Madras  to 
California,  don't  produce  an  article  half  so  long  as  Mr.  Johnson's  rid- 
ing three  horses  at  once.'     I  have  a  curious  copper -plate  'showing 

he 


462  yohnson  the  horse-rider.  f a.d.  1763 

he  said,  '  Such  a  man,  Sir,  should  be  encouraged  ;  for  his  per- 
formances shew  the  extent  of  the  human  powers  in  one  in- 
stance, and  thus  tend  to  raise  our  opinion  of  the  faculties  of 
man.  He  shews  what  maybe  attained  by  persevering  appli- 
cation ;  so  that  every  man  may  hope,  that  by  giving  as  much 
application,  although  perhaps  he  may  never  ride  three  horses 
at  a  time,  or  dance  upon  a  wire,  yet  he  may  be  equally  expert 
in  whatever  profession  he  has  chosen  to  pursue.' 

He  again  shook  me  by  the  hand  at  parting,  and  asked  me 
why  I  did  not  come  oftener  to  him.  Trusting  that  I  was 
now  in  his  good  graces,  I  answered,  that  he  had  not  given 
me  much  encouragement,  and  reminded  him  of  the  check  I 
had  received  from  him  at  our  first  interview.  '  Poh,  poh  ! 
(said  he,  with  a  complacent  smile,)  never  mind  these  things. 
Come  to  me  as  often  as  you  can.    I  shall  be  glad  to  see  you.' 

I  had  learnt  that  his  place  of  frequent  resort  was  the  Mitre 
tavern  in  Fleet-street,  where  he  loved  to  sit  up  late,  and  I 
begged  I  might  be  allowed  to  pass  an  evening  with  him  there 
soon,  which  he  promised  I  should.  A  few  days  afterwards  I 
met  him  near  Temple-bar,  about  one  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
and  asked  if  he  would  then  go  to  the  Mitre.  *  Sir,  (said  he) 
it  is  too  late;  they  won't  let  us  in.  But  I'll  go  with  you 
another  night  with  all  my  heart.' 

A  revolution  of  some  importance  in  my  plan  of  life  had 
just  taken  place ;  for  instead  of  procuring  a  commission  in 
the   foot-guards,  which  was  my  own   inclination',  I   had,  in 

Johnson  standing  on  one,  or  two,  and  leading  a  third  horse  in  full 
speed.'  It  bears  the  date  of  November  1758.  Se& post,  April  3,  1778. 
'  In  the  impudent  Correspondence  (pp.  63,  65)  which  Boswell  and 
Andrew  Erskine  published  this  year,  Boswell  shows  why  he  wished  to 
enter  the  Guards.  '  My  fondness  for  the  Guards.'  he  writes,  '  must 
appear  very  strange  to  you,  who  have  a  rooted  antipathy  at  the  glare 
of  scarlet.  But  I  must  inform  you,  that  there  is  a  city  called  London, 
for  which  I  have  as  violent  an  affection  as  the  most  romantic  lover 
ever  had  for  his  mistress.  ...  I  am  thinking  of  the  brilliant  scenes  of 
happiness,  which  I  shall  enjoy  as  an  officer  of  the  guards.  How  I 
shall  be  acquainted  with  all  the  grandeur  of  a  court,  and  all  the  ele- 
gance of  dress  and  diversions  ;  become  a  favourite  of  ministers  of  state, 

compliance 


Aetat.  54.]       A  revoluticm  in  Boswelfs  life.  463 

compliance  with  my  father's  wishes,  agreed  to  study  the  law  ; 
and  was  soon  to  set  out  for  Utrecht,  to  hear  the  lectures  of 
an  excellent  Civilian  in  that  University,  and  then  to  proceed 
on  my  travels.  Though  very  desirous  of  obtaining  Dr. 
Johnson's  advice  and  instructions  on  the  mode  of  pursuing 
my  studies,  I  was  at  this  time  so  occupied,  shall  I  call  it  ?  or 
so  dissipated,  by  the  amusements  of  London,  that  our  next 
meeting  was  not  till  Saturday,  June  25,  when  happening  to 
dine  at  Clifton's  eating-house,  in  Butcher-row',  I  was  sur- 
prized to  perceive  Johnson  come  in  and  take  his  seat  at  an- 
other table.  The  mode  of  dining,  or  rather  being  fed,  at 
such  houses  in  London,  is  well  known  to  many  to  be  partic- 
ularly unsocial,  as  there  is  no  Ordinary,  or  united  company, 
but  each  person  has  his  own  mess,  and  is  under  no  obligation 
to  hold  any  intercourse  with  any  one.  A  liberal  and  full- 
minded  man,  however,  who  loves  to  talk,  will  break  through 
this  churlish  and  unsocial  restraint.  Johnson  and  an  Irish 
gentleman  got  into  a  dispute  concerning  the  cause  of  some 
part  of  mankind  being  black.  'Why,  Sir,  (said  Johnson,)  it 
has  been  accounted  for  in  three  ways:  either  by  supposing 
that  they  are  the  posterity  of  Ham,  who  was  cursed  ;  or  that 

and  the  adoration  of  ladies  of  quality,  beauty,  and  fortune !  How 
many  parties  of  pleasure  shall  I  have  in  town  !  How  many  fine  jaunts 
to  the  noble  seats  of  dukes,  lords,  and  members  of  parliament  in  the 
country !  I  am  thinking  of  the  perfect  knowledge  which  I  shall  ac- 
quire of  men  and  manners,  of  the  intimacies  which  I  shall  have  the 
honour  to  form  with  the  learned  and  ingenious  in  every  science,  and  of 
the  many  amusing  literary  anecdotes  which  1  shall  pick  up,'  etc.  Bos- 
well,  in  his  Hebrides  (Aug.  18,  1773),  says  of  himself : — '  His  inclination 
was  to  be  a  soldier;  but  his  father,  a  respectable  Judge,  had  pressed 
him  into  the  profession  of  the  law.' 

A  row  of  tenements  in  the  Strand,  between  Wych  Street  and 
Temple  Bar,  and  '  so  called  from  the  butchers'  shambles  on  the  south 
side.'  {Strype,  B.  iv.  p.  118.J  Butcher  Row  was  pulled  down  in  1813, 
and  the  present  Pickett  Street  erected  in  its  stead.  P.  Cunningham. 
In  Humphry  Clinker,  in  the  letter  of  June  10,  one  of  the  poor  authors 
is  described  as  having  been  '  reduced  to  a  woollen  night-cap  and  liv- 
ing upon  sheep's-trotters,  up  three  pair  of  stairs  backward  in  Butcher 
Row.' 

God 


464  The  Mitre.  [a.d.  1763. 

God  at  first  created  two  kinds  of  men,  one  black  and  another 
white ;  or  that  by  the  heat  of  the  sun  the  skin  is  scorched, 
and  so  acquires  a  sooty  hue.  This  matter  has  been  much 
canvassed  among  naturaHsts,  but  has  never  been  brought  to 
any  certain  issue.'  What  the  Irishman  said  is  totally  oblit- 
erated from  my  mind  ;  but  I  remember  that  he  became  very 
warm  and  intemperate  in  his  expressions;  upon  which  John- 
son rose,  and  quietly  walked  away.  When  he  retired,  his 
antagonist  took  his  revenge,  as  he  thought,  by  saying,  '  He 
has  a  most  ungainly  figure,  and  an  affectation  of  pomposity, 
unworthy  of  a  man  of  genius.' 

Johnson  had  not  observed  that  I  was  in  the  room.  I  fol- 
lowed him,  however,  and  he  agreed  to  meet  me  in  the  even- 
ing at  the  Mitre.  I  called  on  him,  and  we  went  thither  at 
nine.  We  had  a  good  supper,  and  port  wine,  of  which  he 
then  sometimes  drank  a  bottle.  The  orthodox  high-church 
sound  of  the  Mitre, — the  figure  and  manner  of  the  cele- 
brated Samuel  Johnson, — the  extraordinary  power  and 
precision  of  his  conversation,  and  the  pride  arising  from  find- 
ing myself  admitted  as  his  companion,  produced  a  variety  of 
sensations,  and  a  pleasing  elevation  of  mind  beyond  what  I 
had  ever  before  experienced.  I  find  in  my  journal  the  fol- 
lowing minute  of  our  conversation,  which,  though  it  will  give 
but  a  very  faint  notion  of  what  passed,  is  in  some  degree  a 
valuable  record  ;  and  it  will  be  curious  in  this  view,  as  shew- 
ing how  habitual  to  his  mind  were  some  opinions  which  ap- 
pear in  his  works. 

'  Colley  Gibber',  Sir,  was  by  no  means  a  blockhead  ;  but 
by  arrogating  to  himself  too  much,  he  was  in  danger  of  los- 
ing that  degree  of  estimation  to  which  he  was  entitled.  His 
friends  gave  out  that  he  intended  his  birth-day  Odes  should 

'  Cibber  was  poet-laureate  from  1730  to  1757.  Horace  Walpole  de- 
scribes him  as  '  that  good  humoured  and  honest  veteran,  so  unworthily 
aspersed  by  Pope,  whose  Memoirs,  with  one  or  two  of  his  comedies, 
will  secure  his  fame,  in  spite  of  all  the  abuse  of  his  contemporaries." 
His  successor  Whitehead,  Walpole  calls  'a  man  of  a  placid  genius.' 
Reign  of  George  II,  iii.  81.  See  ante,  pp.  172,  213,  and  post,  Oct.  19, 
1769,  May  15,  1776,  and  Sept.  21,  1777, 

be 


Aetat.  54.J  Cibber  and  Whitehead.  465 

be  bad  :  but  that  was  not  the  case,  Sir ;  for  he  kept  them 
many  months  by  him,  and  a  few  years  before  he  died  he 
shewed  me  one  of  them,  with  great  soHcitude  to  render  it  as 
perfect  as  might  be,  and  I  made  some  corrections,  to  which 
he  was  not  very  wilHng  to  submit.  I  remember  the  follow- 
ing couplet  in  allusion  to  the  King  and  himself: 

"  Perch'd  on  the  eagle's  soaring  wing, 
The  lowly  linnet  loves  to  sing.' 

Sir,  he  had  heard  something  of  the  fabulous  tale  of  the  wren 
sitting  upon  the  eagle's  wing,  and  he  had  applied  it  to  a  lin- 
net. Gibber's  familiar  style,  however,  was  better  than  that 
which  Whitehead  has  assumed.  Grand  nonsense  is  insup- 
portable'. Whitehead  is  but  a  little  man  to  inscribe  verses 
to  players.' 

I  did  not  presume  to  controvert  this  censure,  which  was 
tinctured  with  his  prejudice  against  players^ ;  but  I  could  not 
help  thinking  that  a  dramatick  poet  might  with  propriety 


'  The  following  quotations  show  the  difference  of  style  in  the  two 
poets : — 

CoLLEY  Cibber. 
'  When  her  pride,  fierce  in  arms. 

Would  to  Europe  give  law; 
At  her  cost  let  her  come, 
To  our  cheer  of  huzza! 
Not  lightning  with  thunder  more  terrible  darts, 
Than  the  burst  of  huzza  from  our  bold  British  hearts.' 

Gent.  Mag.  xxv.  515. 
Wm.  Whitehead. 
'Ye  guardian  powers,  to  whose  command, 
At  Nature's  birth,  th'  Almighty  mind 
The  delegated  task  assign 'd 
To  watch  o'er  Albion's  favour'd  land. 
What  time  your  hosts  with  choral  lay, 
Emerging  from  its  kindred  deep. 
Applausive  hail'd  each  verdant  steep, 
And  white  rock,  glitt'ring  to  the  new-born  day !' 

lb.  xxix.  32. 
*  See  ante,  p.  193. 

I.— 30  pay 


466  The  abruptness  of  Grays  Ode.       [a.d.  1763. 

pay  a  compliment  to  an  eminent  performer,  as  Whitehead 
has  very  happily  done  in  his  verses  to  Mr.  Garrick'. 

'  Sir,  I  do  not  think  Gray  a  first-rate  poet.  He  has  not  a 
bold  imagination,  nor  much  command  of  words.  The  ob- 
scurity in  which  he  has  involved  himself  will  not  persuade 
us  that  he  is  sublime^  His  Elegy  ui  a  Church-yard  has  a 
happy  selection  of  images,  but  I  don't  like  what  are  called 
his  great  things.     His  Ode  which  begins 

"  Ruin  seize  thee,  ruthless  King, 
Confusion  on  thy  banners  wait !" 

has  been  celebrated  for  its  abruptness,  and  plunging  into  the 
subject  all  at  once".  But  such  arts  as  these  have  no  merit, 
unless  when  they  are  original.  We  admire  them  only  once ; 
and  this  abruptness  has  nothing  new  in  it.  We  have  had 
it  often  before.  Nay,  we  have  it  in  the  old  song  of  Johnny 
Armstrong*: 

'  'Whitehead  was  for  some  while  Garrick's  "reader"  of  new  plays 
for  Drur5'--lane.'  Forster's  Goldsmith,  ii.  41.  See  post,  April  25,  1778, 
note.  The  verses  to  Garrick  are  given  in  Chalmers's  English  Poets, 
xvii.  222. 

*  '  In  1757  Gray  published  The  Progress  of  Poetry  and  The  Bard, 
two  compositions  at  which  the  readers  of  poetry  were  at  first  content 
to  gaze  in  mute  amazement.  Some  that  tried  them  confessed  their 
inability  to  understand  them.  .  .  .  Garrick  wrote  a  few  lines  in  their 
praise.  Some  hardy  champions  undertook  to  rescue  them  from  neg- 
lect ;  and  in  a  short  time  many  were  content  to  be  shown  beauties 
which  they  could  not  see.'  Johnson's  Works,  viii.  478.  See  post, 
March  28,  and  April  2,  1775,  and  1780  in  Mr.  Langton's  Collection. 
Goldsmith,  no  doubt,  attacked  Gray  among  'the  misguided  innova- 
tors,' of  whom  he  said  in  his  Life  of  Parnell :—' Thty  have  adopted  a 
language  of  their  own,  and  call  upon  mankind  for  admiration.  All 
those  who  do  not  understand  them  are  silent,  and  those  who  make 
out  their  meaning  are  willing  to  praise  to  show  they  understand.' 
Goldsmith's  Misc.  Works,  iv.  22. 

^  Johnson,  perhaps,  refers  to  the  anonymous  critic  quoted  by  Mason 
in  his  notes  on  this  Ode,  who  says  : — '  This  abrupt  execration  plunges 
the  reader  into  that  sudden  fearful  perplexity  which  is  designed  to 
predominate  through  the  whole.'     Mason's  Grav.  cd.  1807,  1.  96. 

*  ■  Of  the  first  stanza  [of  The  luird]  the  abrupt  beginning  has  been 

"Is 


Aetat. 54.J    Johns 0 lis  opinion  of  Gray s  poetry.         467 

"Is  there  ever  a  man  in  all  Scotland 
From  the  highest  estate  to  the  lowest  degree,  &c." 

And  then,  Sir, 

"Yes,  there  is  a  man  in  Westmoreland, 
And  Johnny  Armstrong  they  do  him  call." 

There,  now,  you  plunge  at  once  into  the  subject.  You  have 
no  previous  narration  to  lead  you  to  it.  The  two  next  lines 
in  that  Ode  are,  I  think,  v&xy  good  : 

"  Though  fann'd  by  conquest's  crimson  wing, 
They  mock  the  air  with  idle  state'."' 

Here  let  it  be  observed,  that  although  his  opinion  of  Gray's 
poetry  was  widely  different  from  mine,  and  I  believe  from 
that  of  most  men  of  taste",  by  whom  it  is  with  justice  highly- 
admired,  there  is  certainly  much  absurdity  in  the  clamour 
which  has  been  raised,  as  if  he  had  been  culpably  injurious 


celebrated ;  but  technical  beauties  can  give  praise  only  to  the  invent- 
or. It  is  in  the  power  of  any  man  to  rush  abruptly  upon  his  subject 
that  has  read  the  ballad  of  Johnny  Armstrong.'  Johnson's  Works, 
viii.485. 

'  My  friend  Mr.  Malone,  in  his  valuable  comments  on  Shakspeare, 
has  traced  in  that  great  poet  the  disjecta  membra  of  these  lines.  Bos- 
WELL.  Gray,  in  the  edition  of  The  Bard  of  the  year  1768,  in  a  note 
on  these  lines  had  quoted  from  King  John,  act  v.  sc.  i  : — '  Mocking 
the  air  with  colours  idly  spread.'  Gosse's  Gray,  i.  41.  But  Malone 
quotes  also  from  Macbeth,  act  i.  sc.  2  : — 

'  Where  the  Norweyan  banners  flout  the  sky 
And  fan  our  people  cold.' 
'  Out  of  these  passages,'  he  said,  '  Mr.  Gray  seems  to  have  framed  the 
first  stanza  of  his  celebrated  Ode!     Malone's  Shakespeare,  xv.  344. 

^  Cradock  records  {^Memoirs,  i.  230)  that  Goldsmith  said  to  him  : — 
'  You  are  so  attached  to  Hurd,  Gray,  and  Mason,  that  you  think  noth- 
ing good  can  proceed  but  out  of  that  formal  school ; — now,  I'll  mend 
Gray's  Elegy  by  leaving  out  an  idle  word  in  every  line. 
"  The  curfew  tolls  the  knell  of  day. 
The  lowing  herd  winds  o'er  the  lea, 
The  ploughman  homeward  plods  his  way, 

And " 

Enough,  enough,  I  have  no  ear  for  more,' 

to 


468  Bosivcil  opens  his  "mind.  [a.d.  1763. 

to  the  merit  of  that  bard,  and  had  been  actuated  by  envy. 
Alas!  ye  httle  short-sighted  criticks,  could  JOHNSON  be  en- 
vious of  the  talents  of  any  of  his  contemporaries?  That  his 
opinion  on  this  subject  was  what  in  private  and  in  publick 
he  uniformly  expressed,  regardless  of  what  others  might 
think,  we  may  wonder,  and  perhaps  regret ;  but  it  is  shallow 
and  unjust  to  charge  him  with  expressing  what  he  did  not 
think. 

Finding  him  in  a  placid  humour,  and  wishing  to  avail  my- 
self of  the  opportunity  w  hich  I  fortunately  had  of  consulting 
a  sage,  to  hear  whose  wisdom,  I  conceived  in  the  ardour  of 
}'outhful  imagination,  that  men  filled  with  a  noble  enthusiasm 
for  intellectual  improvement  would  gladly  ha\'e  resorted  from 
distant  lands ; — I  opened  my  mind  to  him  ingenuously,  and 
gave  him  a  little  sketch  of  my  life,  to  which  he  was  pleased 
to  listen  with  great  attention'. 

I  acknowledged,  that  though  educated  very  strictly  in  the 
principles  of  religion,  I  had  for  some  time  been  misled  into 
a  certain  degree  of  infidelity ;  but  that  I  was  come  now^  to  a 
better  way  of  thinking,  and  was  fully  satisfied  of  the  truth  of 
the  Christian  revelation,  though  I  w^as  not  clear  as  to  ever>' 
point  considered  to  be  orthodox.  Being  at  all  times  a  curi- 
ous examiner  of  the  human  mind,  and  pleased  with  an  undis- 
guised display  of  what  had  passed  in  it,  he  called  to  me  with 
warmth,  *  Give  me  your  hand  ;  I  have  taken  a  liking  to  you.' 
He  then  began  to  descant  upon  the  force  of  testimony,  and 
the  little  we  could  know^  of  final  causes ;  so  that  the  objec- 
tions of,  why  was  it  so  ?  or  why  w^as  it  not  so  ?  ought  not  to 
disturb  us:  adding,  that  he  himself  had  at  one  period  been 
guilty  of  a  temporary  neglect  of  religion,  but  that  it  was  not 
the  result  of  argument,  but  mere  absence  of  thought". 

After  having  given  credit  to  reports  of  his  bigotry,  I  was 

'  So,  less  than  two  years  later,  Boswell  opened  his  mind  to  Paoli. 
'  My  time  passed  here  in  the  most  agreeable  manner.  I  enjoyed  a  sort 
of  luxury  of  noble  sentiment.  Paoli  became  more  affable  with  me.  I 
Tiade  myself  known  to  him.'     Boswell's  Corsica,  p.  167. 

*  See  ante,  p.  78. 

agreeably 


Aetat.54.j         The  dijjerences  of  Christians.  469 

aL;reeabl)'  surprized  when  he  expressed  the  following  very 
liberal  sentiment,  which  has  the  additional  value  of  obvi- 
ating an  objection  to  our  hoi)'  religion,  founded  upon  the 
discordant  tenets  of  Christians  themselves:  '  For  my  part, 
Sir,  I  think  all  Christians,  whether  Papists  or  Protestants, 
agree  in  the  essential  articles,  and  that  their  differences  are 
trivial,  and  rather  political  than  religious'.' 

We  talked  of  belief  in  ghosts.  I  le  said,  '  Sir,  I  make  a 
distinction  between  what  a  man  may  experience  b)'  the 
mere  strength  of  his  imagination,  and  what  imagination 
cannot  possibl}'  i)r(Kiucc.  Thus,  suppose  I  should  think  that 
I  saw  a  form,  and  heard  a  voice  cry  "  Johnson,  you  are  a 
\  or\-  wicked  fellow,  and  unless  you  repent  you  will  certainly 
be  punished  ;"'  m\'  own  unworthiness  is  so  deeply  impressed 
upon  my  mind,  that  I  might  iniagiiu-  I  thus  saw  and  heard, 
anil  therefore  I  should  not  believe  that  an  external  com- 
munication had  been  made  to  me.  But  if  a  form  should 
appear,  and  a  voice  should  tell  me  that  a  particular  man  had 
died  at  a  particular  place,  and  a  jiarticular  hour,  a  fact  which 
1  had  Ud  apprehension  of,  nor  any  means  of  knowing,  and 
this  fact,  with  all  its  circumstances,  should  afterwards  be 
unquestionabl)-  pro\cd.  1  should,  in  that  case,  be  persuaded 
that  I  had  supernatural  intelligence  imparted  to  me.' 

llerc  it  is  proper,  once  for  all,  to  gi\e  a  true  and  fair 
statement  of  Johnson's  wa\'  of  thinking  ujion  the  question, 
whether  de[)arted  spirits  are  ever  permitted  to  appear  in  this 
world,  or  in  any  way  to  operate  ujion  human  life.  He  has 
been  ignorant!)-  misrepresented  as  weakl\-  credulous  upon 
that  subject ;  .ind,  therefore,  though  I  feel  an  inclination  to 
disdain  and  treat  with  silent  contempt  so  foolish  a  notion 
concerning  m\-  illustrious  friend,  yet  as  I  find  it  has  gained 
gnnind.  it  is  necessar)-  to  refute  it.  The  real  fact  then  is, 
that  Johnson  had  a  very  philosophical  mind,  and  such  a 
rational  respect  for  testimou)'.  as  to  make  him  submit  his 
understanding  to  what  was  authenticall)-  pro\'ed.  though  he 
could  not  comprehend  why  it  was  so.     Being  thus  disposed, 

I  See  post,  Sept.  12,  1777. 

he 


470  ^/^<?  Cock-lane  Ghost.  [a.d.  1763. 

he  was  willing  to  inquire  into  the  truth  of  any  relation  of 
supernatural  agency,  a  general  belief  of  which  has  prevailed 
in  all  nations  and  ages'.  But  so  far  was  he  from  being  the 
dupe  of  implicit  faith,  that  he  examined  the  matter  with  a 
jealous  attention,  and  no  man  was  more  ready  to  refute  its 
falsehood  when  he  had  discovered  it.  Churchill,  in  his  poem 
entitled  The  Ghost,  availed  himself  of  the  absurd  credulity 
imputed  to  Johnson,  and  drew  a  caricature  of  him  under 
the  name  of  '  PoMi'OSO"','  representing  him  as  one  of  the 
believers  of  the  story  of  a  Ghost  in  Cock-lane,  which,  in 
the  year  1762,  had  gained  very  general  credit  in  London\ 
Many  of  my  readers,  I  am  convinced,  are  to  this  hour  under 
an  impression  that  Johnson  was  thus  foolishly  deceived.  It 
will  therefore  surprise  them  a  good  deal  when  they  are  in- 
formed upon  undoubted  authority,  that  Johnson  was  one 
of  those  by  whom  the  imposture  was  detected.  The  story 
had  become  so  popular,  that  he  thought  it  should  be  in- 
vestigated* ;    and   in   this    research   he  was  assisted   by  the 

'  See  post,  March  30,  1778,  where  in  speaking  of  the  appearance  of 
spirits  after  death  he  says  : — '  All  argument  is  against  it ;  but  all  belief 
is  for  it.'  See  also  ante,  p.  397,  and  post,  April  15,  1778,  under  May  4, 
1779,  April  15,  1781,  and  June  12,  1784. 

*  The  caricature  begins  : — 

'  Pomposo,  insolent  and  loud, 
Vain  idol  of  a  scribbling  crowd, 
Whose  very  name  inspires  an  awe, 
Whose  ev'ry  word  is  Sense  and  Law.' 

Churchill's  Poems,  \.  216. 

*  The  chief  impostor,  a  man  of  the  name  of  Parsons,  had,  it  should 
seem,  set  his  daughter  to  play  the  part  of  the  ghost  in  order  to  pay 
out  a  grudge  against  a  man  who  had  sued  him  for  a  debt.  The  ghost 
was  made  to  accuse  this  man  of  poisoning  his  sister-in-law,  and  to  de- 
clare that  she  should  only  be  at  ease  in  her  mind  if  he  were  hanged. 
'  When  Parsons  stood  on  the  Pillory  at  the  end  of  Cock  Lane,  instead 
of  being  pelted,  he  had  money  given  him.'  Gent.  Mag.  xxxii.  43,  82, 
and  xxxiii.  144. 

*  Horace  Walpole,  writing  on  Feb.  2,  1762  {Letters,  iii.  481),  says  : — 
'  I  could  send  you  volumes  on  the  Ghost,  and  I  believe,  if  I  were  to 
stay  a  little,  I  might  send  its  life,  dedicated  to  my  Lord  Dartmouth, 
by  the  Ordinary  of  Newgate,  its  two  great  patrons.     A  drunken  par- 
Reverend 


Aetat.  54.]  The  Cock-lane  Ghost  471 

Reverend  Dr.  Douglas',  now  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  the  great 
detector  of  impostures ;  who  informs  me,  that  after  the  gen- 
tlemen who  went  and  examined  into  the  evidence  were  satis- 
fied of  its  falsity,  Johnson  wrote  in  their  presence  an  account 
of  it,  which  was  published  in  the  newspapers  and  Gentle- 
man s  Magazme,  and  undeceived  the  world\ 

ish  clerk  set  it  on  foot  out  of  revenge,  the  Methodists  have  adopted 
it,  and  the  whole  town  of  London  think  of  nothing  else.  ...  I  went 
to  hear  it,  for  it  is  not  an  apparition,  but  an  audition,  .  .  .  the  Duke  of 
York,  Lady  Northumberland,  Lady  Mary  Coke,  Lord  Hertford,  and  L 
all  in  one  Hackney-coach  :  it  rained  torrents ;  yet  the  lane  was  full  of 
mob,  and  the  house  so  full  we  could  not  get  in.'     See  post,  April  10, 

1778. 

'  Described  by  Goldsmith  in  /Retaliation  as  '  The  scourge  of  im- 
postors, the  terror  of  quacks.'     See  ante,  p.  265. 

•  The  account  was  as  follows : — '  On  the  night  of  the  ist  of  Feb- 
ruary [1762]  many  gentlemen  eminent  for  their  rank  and  character 
were,  by  the  invitation  of  the  Reverend  Mr.  Aldrich,  of  Clerkenwell, 
assembled  at  his  house,  for  the  examination  of  the  noises  supposed 
to  be  made  by  a  departed  spirit,  for  the  detection  of  some  enormous 
crime. 

'  About  ten  at  night  the  gentlemen  met  in  the  chamber  in  which 
the  girl,  supposed  to  be  disturbed  by  a  spirit,  had,  with  proper  caution, 
been  put  to  bed  by  several  ladies.  They  sat  rather  more  than  an  hour, 
and  hearing  nothing,  went  down  stairs,  when  they  interrogated  the 
father  of  the  girl,  who  denied,  in  the  strongest  terms,  any  knowledge 
or  belief  of  fraud. 

'  The  supposed  spirit  had  before  publickly  promised,  by  an  affirma- 
tive knock,  that  it  would  attend  one  of  the  gentlemen  into  the  vault 
under  the  Church  of  St.  John,  Clerkenwell,  where  the  body  is  depos- 
ited, and  give  a  token  of  her  presence  there,  by  a  knock  upon  her 
coffin  ;  it  was  therefore  determined  to  make  this  trial  of  the  existence 
or  veracity  of  the  supposed  spirit. 

'  While  they  were  enquiring  and  deliberating,  they  were  summoned 
into  the  girl's  chamber  by  some  ladies  who  were  near  her  bed,  and 
who  had  heard  knocks  and  scratches.  When  the  gentlemen  entered, 
the  girl  declared  that  she  felt  the  spirit  like  a  mouse  upon  her  back, 
and  was  required  to  hold  her  hands  out  of  bed.  From  that  time, 
though  the  spirit  was  very  solemnly  required  to  manifest  its  existence 
by  appearance,  by  impression  on  the  hand  or  body  of  any  present,  by 
scratches,  knocks,  or  any  other  agency,  no  evidence  of  any  preter-nat- 
ural  power  was  exhibited. 

Our 


472  Subordination.  [a.d.  1763. 

Our  conversation  proceeded.  '  Sir,  (said  he)  I  am  a  friend 
to  subordination,  as  most  conducive  to  the  happiness  of 
society'.  There  is  a  reciprocal  pleasure  in  governing  and 
being  governed.' 


'  The  spirit  was  then  very  seriously  advertised  that  the  person  to 
whom  the  promise  was  made  of  striking  the  coffin,  was  then  about 
to  visit  the  vault,  and  that  the  performance  of  the  promise  was  then 
claimed.  The  company  at  one  o'clock  went  into  the  church,  and  the 
p;entleman  to  whom  the  promise  was  made,  went  with  another  into 
the  vault.  The  spirit  was  solemnly  required  to  perform  its  promise, 
but  nothing  more  than  silence  ensued :  the  person  supposed  to  be  ac- 
cused by  the  spirit,  then  went  down  with  several  others,  but  no  effect 
was  perceived.  Upon  their  return  they  examined  the  girl,  but  could 
draw  no  confession  from  her.  Between  two  and  three  she  desired 
and  was  permitted  to  go  home  with  her  father. 

'  It  is,  therefore,  the  opinion  of  the  whole  assembly,  that  the  child 
has  some  art  of  making  or  counterfeiting  a  particular  noise,  and  that 
there  is  no  agency  of  any  higher  cause.'  Boswell.  Gent.  Mag.  xxxii. 
8i.     The  following  MS.  letter  is  in  the  British  Museum : — 

'  Revd.  Sir, 

The  appointment  for  the  examination  stands  as  it  did  when  I 
saw  you  last,  viz.,  between  8  and  9  this  evening.  Mr.  Johnson  was 
applied  to  by  a  friend  of  mine  soon  after  you  left  him,  and  promised 
to  be  with  us.  Should  be  glad,  if  convenient,  you'd  show  him  the  way 
hither.  Mrs.  Oakes,  of  Dr.  Macauley's  recommendation,  I  should  be 
glad  to  have  here  on  the  occasion  ;  and  think  it  would  do  honour  to 
the  list  of  examiners  to  have  Dr.  Macauley  with  us. 

I  am.  Dear  Sir. 
your  most  obedient  servant, 

Ste.  Aldrich. 

If  Dr.  Macamey  can  conveniently  attend,  should  be  glad  you'd 
acquaint  Lord  Dartmouth  with  it,  who  seemed  to  be  at  loss  to  rec- 
ommend a  gentleman  of  the  faculty  at  his  end  of  the  town. 

St.  John's  Square.     Monday  noon. 
To  the  Revd.  Dr.  Douglas.' 

Endorsed  '  Mr.  Aldrich,  Feb.  1762,  about  the  Cock  Lane  ghost. — Ex- 
amination at  his  house.' 

'  Boswell  was  with  Paoli  when  news  came  that  a  Corsican  under 
sentence  of  death  '  had  consented  to  accept  of  his  life,  upon  condition 
of  becoming  hangman.  This  made  a  great  noise  among  the  Corsi- 
cans,  who  were  enraged  at  the  creature,  and  said  their  nation  was  now 
disgraced.     Paoli  did  not  think  so.     He  said  to  me : — "  I  am  glad  of 

Dr. 


Aetat.  54.J  Criticism.  473 

'Dr.  Goldsmith  is  one  of  the  first  men  we  now  have  as 
an  authour,  and  he  is  a  very  worthy  man  too.  He  has  been 
loose  in  his  principles,  but  he  is  coming  right.' 

I  mentioned  Mallet's  tragedy  of  Elvira" ,  which  had  been 
acted  the  preceding  winter  at  Drury-lane,  and  that  the 
Honourable  Andrew  Erskine\  Mr.  Dempster\  and  myself, 
had  joined  in  writing  a  pamphlet,  entitled,  Critical  Strictures, 
against  it\  That  the  mildness  of  Dempster's  disposition 
had,  however,  relented  ;  and  he  had  candidly  said,  'We  have 
hardly  a  right  to  abuse  this  tragedy :  for  bad  as  it  is,  how 
vain  should  either  of  us  be  to  write  one  not  near  so  good.' 
Johnson.  'Why  no.  Sir;  this  is  not  just  reasoning.  You 
may  abuse  a  tragedy,  though  you  cannot  write  one.  You 
may  scold  a  carpenter  who  has  made  you  a  bad  table,  though 
you  cannot  make  a  table.  It  is  not  your  trade  to  make 
tables.' 

When  I  talked  to  him  of  the  paternal  estate  to  which  I 
was  heir,  he  said,  '  Sir,  let  me  tell  you,  that  to  be  a  Scotch 

this.  It  will  be  of  service.  It  will  contribute  to  form  us  to  a  just 
subordination.  As  we  must  have  Corsican  tailours,  and  Corsican 
shoemakers,  we  must  also  have  a  Corsican  hangman."  '  Boswell's 
Corsica,  p.  201.  See  post,  July  20  and  21,  1763,  April  13,  1773.  and 
March  28,  1775. 

'  '  Mallet's  Dramas  had  their  day,  a  short  day,  and  are  forgotten.' 
Johnson's  Works,  viii.  468. 

'  See  ante,  p.  445,  note. 

*  '  A  man  had  heard  that  Dempster  was  very  clever,  and  therefore 
expected  that  he  could  say  nothing  but  good  things.  Being  brought 
acquainted,  Mr.  Dempster  said  to  him  with  much  politeness,  "  I  hope, 
Sir,  your  lady  and  family  are  well."  "Ay,  ay,  man,"  said  he,  "pray 
where  is  the  great  wit  in  that  speech  ?" '  Bosiuclliana,  p.  307.  Mr. 
Dempster  is  mentioned  by  Burns  in  The  Author  s  Earnest  Cry  and 
Prayer  to  the  Scotch  Representatives  in  the  House  of  Conunons : — 
'  Dempster,  a  true-blue  Scot  I'se  warran.'  In  1769  he  was  elected 
member  for  the  Forfar  Boroughs.     Pari.  Hist.  xvi.  453. 

*  The  Critical  Reinew,  in  which  Mallet  himself  sometimes  wrote, 
characterised  this  pamphlet  as  '  the  crude  efforts  of  envy,  petulance 
and  self-conceit.'  There  being  thus  three  epithets,  we,  the  three  au- 
thours,  had  a  humourous  contention  how  each  should  be  appropri- 
ated.    BOSWELL. 

landlord. 


474  Scotch  landlords.  [a. d.  1763. 

landlord,  where  you  have  a  number  of  families  dependent 
upon  you,  and  attached  to  you,  is,  perhaps,  as  high  a  situa- 
tion as  humanity  can  arrive  at.  A  merchant  upon  the 
'Change  of  London,  with  a  hundred  thousand  pounds,  is 
nothing ;  an  English  Duke,  with  an  immense  fortune,  is 
nothing ;  he  has  no  tenants  who  consider  themselves  as 
under  his  patriarchal  care,  and  who  will  follow  him  to  the 
field  upon  an  emergency.' 

His  notion  of  the  dignity  of  a  Scotch  landlord  had  been 
formed  upon  what  he  had  heard  of  the  Highland  Chiefs;  for 
it  is  long  since  a  lowland  landlord  has  been  so  curtailed  in 
his  feudal  authority,  that  he  has  little  more  influence  over 
his  tenants  than  an  English  landlord  ;  and  of  late  years  most 
of  the  Highland  Chiefs  have  destroyed,  by  means  too  well 
known,  the  princely  power  which  they  once  enjoyed'. 

He  proceeded:  'Your  going  abroad,  Sir,  and  breaking  off 
idle  habits,  may  be  of  great  importance  to  you.  I  would  go 
where  there  are  courts  and  learned  men.  There  is  a  good 
deal  of  Spain  that  has  not  been  perambulated.  I  would 
have  you  go  thither".  A  man  of  inferiour  talents  to  yours 
may  furnish  us  with  useful  observations  upon  that  country.' 
His  supposing  me,  at  that  period  of  life,  capable  of  writing 
an  account  of  my  travels  that  would  deserve  to  be  read, 
elated  me  not  a  little. 

I  appeal  to  every  impartial  reader  whether  this  faithful 
detail  of  his  frankness,  complacency,  and  kindness  to  a  young 
man,  a  stranger  and  a  Scotchman,  does  not  refute  the  unjust 
opinion  of  the  harshness  of  his  general  demeanour.  His  oc- 
casional reproofs  of  folly,  impudence,  or  impiety,  and  even 
the  sudden  sallies  of  his  constitutional  irritability  of  temper, 
which  have  been  preserved  for  the  poignancy  of  their  wit, 
have  produced  that  opinion  among  those  w^ho  have  not  con- 
sidered that  such  instances,  though  collected  by  Mrs.  Piozzi 

'  Johnson  {Works,  ix.  86)  talks  of  the  chiefs  'gradually  degenerating 
from  patriarchal  rulers  to  rapacious  landlords.'  In  Boswell's  Hebrides, 
the  subject  is  often  examined. 

'  See  ante,  i.  423. 

into 


Aetat.  54.]  Boswell  and  jfohnson.  475 

into  a  small  volume,  and  read  over  in  a  few  hours,  were,  in 
fact,  scattered  through  a  long  series  of  years ;  years,  in  which 
his  time  was  chiefly  spent  in  instructing  and  delighting  man- 
kind by  his  writings  and  conversation,  in  acts  of  piety  to 
God,  and  good-will  to  men'. 

I  complained  to  him  that  I  had  not  yet  acquired  much 
knowledge,  and  asked  his  advice  as  to  my  studies".  He  said, 
'  Don't  talk  of  study  now.  I  will  give  you  a  plan ;  but  it 
will  require  some  time  to  consider  of  it.'  '  It  is  very  good 
in  you  (I  replied,)  to  allow  me  to  be  with  you  thus.  Had  it 
been  foretold  to  me  some  years  ago  that  I  should  pass  an 
evening  with  the  authour  of  The  Rajublcr,  how  should  I 
have  exulted !'  What  I  then  expressed,  was  sincerely  from 
the  heart.  He  was  satisfied  that  it  was,  and  cordially  an- 
swered, '  Sir,  I  am  glad  we  have  met.  I  hope  we  shall  pass 
many  evenings  and  mornings  too,  together.'  We  finished 
a  couple  of  bottles  of  port,  and  sat  till  between  one  and  two 
in  the  morning. 

He  wrote  this  year  in  the  Critical  Reviciv  the  account  of 
*  Telemachus,  a  Mask,'  by  the  Reverend  George  Graham,  of 
Eton  College\  The  subject  of  this  beautiful  poem  was  par- 
ticularly interesting  to  Johnson,  who  had  much  experience 
of  '  the  conflict  of  opposite  principles,'  which  he  describes  as 
'  The   contention  between   pleasure  and   virtue,  a  struggle 


'  '  Dr.  Burney  spoke  with  great  warmth  of  affection  of  Dr.  Johnson  ; 
said  he  was  the  kindest  creature  in  the  world  when  he  thought  he 
was  loved  and  respected  by  others.  He  would  play  the  fool  among 
friends,  but  he  required  deference.  It  was  necessary  to  ask  questions 
and  make  no  assertion.  If  you  said  two  and  two  make  four,  he  would 
say,  "How  will  you  prove  that,  Sir.^"  Dr.  Burney  seemed  amiably 
sensitive  to  every  unfavourable  remark  on  his  old  friend.'  H.  C.  Rob- 
inson's Diary,  iii.  485. 

'^  See  post,  April  24,  1777,  note,  and  Oct.  10,  1779,  where  he  consults 
Johnson  about  the  study  of  Greek.  He  formed  wishes,  scarcely  plans 
of  study,  but  never  studied. 

'  See  post,  Feb.  18,  1777.  It  was  Graham  who  so  insulted  Goldsmith 
by  saying: — ' 'Tis  not  you  I  mean,  Dr.  A/i'nor;  'tis  Dx.  Major  there.' 
Boswell 's  Hebrides,  Aug.  24,  1773. 

uhicb 


476  Oliver  Goldsmith.  [a. d.  1763. 

which  will  always  be  continued  while  the  present  system  of 
nature  shall  subsist :  nor  can  history  or  poetry  exhibit  more 
than  pleasure  triumphing  over  virtue,  and  virtue  subjugating 
pleasure.' 

As  Dr.  Oliver  Goldsmith  will  frequently  appear  in  this 
narrative,  I  shall  endeavour  to  make  my  readers  in  some 
degree  acquainted  with  his  singular  character.  He  was  a 
native  of  Ireland,  and  a  contemporary  with  Mr.  Burke  at 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  but  did  not  then  give  much  promise 
of  future  celebrity'.  He,  however,  observed  to  Mr.  Malone, 
that  '  though  he  made  no  great  figure  in  mathematicks\ 
which  was  a  study  in  much  repute  there,  he  could  turn  an 
Ode  of  Horace  into  English  better  than  any  of  them.'  He 
afterwards  studied  physick  at  Edinburgh,  and  upon  the  Con- 
tinent ;  and  I  have  been  informed,  was  enabled  to  pursue 
his  travels  on  foot^  partly  by  demanding  at  Universities  to 
enter  the  lists  as  a  disputant,  by  which,  according  to  the 
custom  of  many  of  them,  he  was  entitled  to  the  premium  of 
a  crown,  when  luckily  for  him  his  challenge  was  not  accept- 
ed;  so  that,  as  I  once  observed  to  Dr.  Johnson,  he  disputed 
his  passage  through  Europe*.  He  then  came  to  England, 
and  was  employed  successively  in  the  capacities  of  an  usher 
to  an  academy,  a  corrector  of  the  press,  a  reviewer,  and  a 
writer  for  a  news-paper.  He  had  sagacity  enough  to  culti- 
vate assiduously  the  acquaintance  of  Johnson,  and  his  facul- 
ties were  gradually  enlarged  by  the  contemplation  of  such 
a  model.      To   me  and   many   others   it   appeared   that   he 

'  See /t'5/,  Sept.  19,  1777. 

'  Of  Mathematics  Goldsmith  wrote : — '  This  seems  a  science  to  which 
the  meanest  intellects  are  equal.'     %q,^  post,  March  15,  1776,  note. 

^  In  his  Present  State  of  Polite  Learning,  ch.  13  {Misc.  Works,  i.  266), 
Goldsmith  writes  : — '  A  man  who  is  whirled  through  Europe  in  a  post- 
chaise,  and  the  pilgrim  who  walks  the  grand  tour  on  foot,  will  form 
very  different  conclusions.  Haud  inexpertiis  loquor.'  The  last  three 
words  are  omitted  in  the  second  edition. 

*  George  Primrose  in  the  Vicar  of  Wakcficht  (ch.  20).  after  describ- 
ing these  disputations,  says  : — '  In  this  manner  I  fought  my  way  tow- 
ards England.' 

studiously 


Aetat.  54.]  Oliver  Goldsmith.  477 

studiously  copied  the  manner  of  Joiinson',  though,  indeed, 
upon  a  smaller  scale. 

At  this  time  I  think  he  had  published  nothing  with  his 
name",  though  it  was  pretty  generally  known  that  one  Dr. 
Goldsmith  was  the  authour  of  An  Enquiry  into  the  present 
State  of  polite  Learning  in  Europe^',  and  of  The  Citizen  of 
the  World*,  a  series  of  letters  supposed  to  be  written  from 
London  by  a  Chinese.  No  man  had  the  art  of  displaying 
with  more  advantage  as  a  writer,  whatever  literary  acquisi- 
tions he  made.  '  Nihil  quod  tetigit  non  ornavit'.'  His  mind 
resembled  a  fertile,  but  thin  soil.  There  was  a  quick,  but 
not  a  strong  vegetation,  of  whatever  chanced  to  be  thrown 
upon  it.  No  deep  root  could  be  struck.  The  oak  of  the 
forest  did  not  grow  there  ;  but  the  elegant  shrubbery  and 
the  fragrant  parterre  appeared  in  gay  succession.  It  has 
been  generally  circulated  and  believed  that  he  was  a  mere 
fool  in    conversation^ ;  but,  in  truth,  this  has  been   greatly 

'  Dr.  Warton  wrote  to  his  brother  on  Jan.  22,  1766  : — 'Of  all  solemn 
coxcombs  Goldsmith  is  the  first ;  yet  sensible — but  affects  to  use  John- 
son's hard  words  in  conversation.'     Wooll's  Warton.  p.  312. 

^  It  was  long  believed  that  the  author  of  one  of  Goldsmith's  early 
works  was  Lord  Lyttelton.  '  "  Whenever  I  write  anything,"  said  Gold- 
smith, "  I  think  the  public  make  a  point  to  know  nothing  about  it." 
So  the  present  book  was  issued  as  a  History  of  England  in  a  serits  of 
Letters  front  a  Nobleman  to  his  Son.  The  persuasion  at  last  became 
general  that  the  author  was  Lord  Lyttelton,  and  the  name  of  that 
grave  good  lord  is  occasionally  still  seen  affixed  to  it  on  the  book- 
stalls.' Forster's  Goldsmith,  i.  301,  The  Traveller  was  the  first  of  his 
works  to  which  he  put  his  name.     It  was  published  in  1764.     lb.  p.  364, 

'  Published  in  1759. 

*  Published  in  1 760-1. 

'  See  his  Epitaph  in  Westminster  Abbey,  written  by  Dr.  Johnson. 

BOSWELL. 

'  Qui  nullum  fere  scribendi  genus  Non  tetigit, 
Nullum  quod  tetigit  non  ornavit.' 

Post,  under  June  22,  1776. 

•  In  allusion  to  this,  Mr.  Horace  Walpole,  who  admired  his  writings, 
said  he  was  'an  inspired  ideot ;'  and  Garrick  described  him  as  one 

' for  shortness  call'd  Noll, 

Who  wrote  like  an  angel,  and  talk'd  like  poor  Poll.' 

exaggerated. 


478  Oliver  Goldsmith.  [a. d.  1763. 


exaggerated.  He  had,  no  doubt,  a  more  than  common  share 
of  that  hurry  of  ideas  which  we  often  find  in  his  country- 
men, and  which  sometimes  produces  a  laughable  confusion 
in  expressing  them.  He  was  very  much  what  the  French 
call  un  etoitrdi\  and  from  vanity  and  an  eager  desire  of  be- 
ing conspicuous  wherever  he  was,  he  frequently  talked  care- 
lessly without  knowledge  of  the  subject,  or  even  without 
thought.  His  person  was  short,  his  countenance  coarse  and 
vulgar,  his  deportment  that  of  a  scholar  aukwardly  affecting 


Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  mentioned  to  me  that  he  frequently  heard 
Goldsmith  talk  warmly  of  the  pleasure  of  being  liked,  and  observe 
how  hard  it  would  be  if  literary  excellence  should  preclude  a  man 
from  that  satisfaction,  which  he  perceived  it  often  did,  from  the  envy 
which  attended  it;  and  therefore  Sir  Joshua  was  convinced  that  he 
was  intentionally  more  absurd,  in  order  to  lessen  himself  in  social  in- 
tercourse, trusting  that  his  character  would  be  sufficiently  supported 
by  his  works.  If  it  indeed  was  his  intention  to  appear  absurd  in  com- 
pany, he  was  often  very  .successful.  But  with  due  deference  to  Sir 
Joshua's  ingenuity,  I  think  the  conjecture  too  refined.     Boswei.i,. 

Horace  Walpole's  saying  of  the  '  inspired  ideot '  is  recorded  in 
Davies's  Garrick,  ii.  151.  Walpole,  in  his  Leiters,  describes  Goldsmith 
as  '  a  changeling  that  has  had  bright  gleams  of  parts,'  (v.  458) ;  '  a  fool, 
the  more  wearing  for  having  some  sense,'  (vi.  29) ;  'a  poor  .soul  that 
had  sometimes  parts,  though  never  common  sense,'  {ib.  p.  73);  and 
'an  idiot,  with  once  or  twice  a  fit  of  parts,'  {ib.  p.  379).  Garrick's 
lines — 

'  Here  lies  Nolly  Goldsmith,  for  shortness  called  Noll, 
Who  wrote  like  an  angel,  but  talked  like  poor  Poll,' 
are  his  imaginary  epitaph  on  Goldsmith,  which,  with  the  others,  gave 
ri.se  to  Retaliation.     Forster's  Goldsmith,  ii.  405. 

'  Rousseau  accounting  for  the  habit  he  has  '  de  balbutier  prompte- 
ment  des  paroles  sans  idees,'  continues,  '  je  crois  que  voila  de  quoi 
faire  assez  comprendre  comment  n'etant  pas  un  sot,  j'ai  cependant 
souvent  pa.s.se  pour  I'etre,  meme  chez  des  gens  en  etat  de  bien  juger. 
.  .  .  Le  parti  que  j'ai  pris  d'ecrire  et  de  me  cacher  est  precisement 
celui  qui  me  convenait.  Moi  present  on  n'aurait  jamais  su  ce  que  je 
valois,  on  ne  I'aurait  pas  soupconne  meme.'  Les  Confessions,  Livre  iii. 
See /oj/,  April  27,  1773,  where  Boswell  admits  that  'Goldsmith  was 
often  very  fortunate  in  his  witty  contests,  even  when  he  entered  the 
lists  with  Johnson  him.self :'  and  April  30,  1773.  where  Reynolds  says 
of  him  :  '  There  is  no  man  whose  company  is  more  liked.' 

the 


Aetat.  54.J  Oliver  Goldsmith.  479 

the  easy  gentleman'.  Those  who  were  in  any  way  distin- 
guished, excited  envy  in  him  to  so  ridiculous  an  excess,  that 
the  instances  of  it  are  hardly  credible\  When  accompanying 
two  beautiful  young  ladies^  with  their  mother  on  a  tour  in 
rVance,  he  was  seriously  angry  that  more  attention  was  paid 
to  them  than  to  him' ;  and  once  at  the  exhibition  of  the 
Fantoccini"  in  London,  when  those  who  sat  next  him  ob- 
served with  what  dexterity  a  puppet  was  made  to  toss  a 


'  Northcote,  a  few  weeks  before  his  death,  said  to  Mr.  Prior:— 
'  When  Goldsmith  entered  a  room,  Sir.  people  who  did  not  know  him 
became  for  a  moment  silent  from  awe  of  his  literary  reputation  :  when 
he  came  out  again,  they  were  riding  upon  his  back.'  Prior's  GohU 
smith, \.  \\o.  According  to  Dr.  Percy: — 'His  face  was  marked  with 
strong  lines  of  thinking.  His  first  appearance  was  not  captivating; 
but  when  he  grew  easy  and  cheerful  in  company,  he  relaxed  into  such 
a  display  of  good  humour  as  soon  removed  every  unfavourable  im- 
pression.'    Goldsmith's  Misc.  Works,  i.  117. 

"  '  Dr.  Goldsmith  told  me,  he  himself  envied  Shakespeare."  Wal- 
pole's  Letters,  vi.  379.  Boswell,  later  on  {post,  May  9,  1773),  says: — 
'  In  my  opinion  Goldsmith  had  not  more  of  it  [an  envious  disposi- 
tion] than  other  people  have,  but  only  talked  of  it  freely.'  See  also 
post,  April  12,  1778.  According  to  Northcote,  'Sir  Joshua  said  that 
Goldsmith  considered  public  notoriety  or  fame  as  one  great  parcel, 
to  the  whole  of  which  he  laid  claim,  and  whoever  partook  of  any  part 
of  it,  whether  dancer,  singer,  slight  of  hand  man,  or  tumbler,  deprived 
him  of  his  right."  Northcote's  Reynolds,  i.  248.  See  post,  April  7,  1778, 
where  Johnson  said  that  '  Goldsmith  was  not  an  agreeable  companion, 
for  he  talked  always  for  fame  :'  and  April  9,  1778. 

*  Miss  Hornecks,  one  of  whom  is  now  married  to  Henry  Bunbury, 
Esq.,  and  the  other  to  Colonel  Gwyn.     Boswp:i,i.. 

*  'Standing  at  the  window  of  their  hotel  [in  Lisle]  to  see  a  com- 
pany of  soldiers  in  the  Square,  the  beauty  of  the  sisters  Horneck 
drew  such  marked  admiration,  that  Goldsmith,  heightening  his  drol- 
lery with  that  air  of  solemnity  so  generally  a  point  in  his  humour  and 
so  often  more  solemnly  misinterpreted,  turned  off  from  the  window 
with  the  remark  that  elsewhere  he  too  could  have  his  admirers.  The 
Jessamy  Bride,  Mrs.  Gwyn,  was  asked  about  the  occurrence  not  many 
years  ago ;  remembored  it  as  a  playful  jest ;  and  said  how  shocked 
she  had  subsequently  been  "  to  see  it  adduced  in  print  as  a  proof  of 
his  envious  disposition."  '     Forster's  Goldsmith,  ii.  217. 

*  Puppets. 

pike, 


480  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield.         [a.d.  1763, 

pike,  he  could  not  bear  that  it  should  have  such  praise,  an(j 
exclaimed  with  some  warmth,  '  Pshaw  I  I  can  do  it  better 
myself'.' 

He,  I  am  afraid,  had  no  settled  system  of  any  sort^  so 
that  his  conduct  must  not  be  strictly  scrutinised  ;  but  his  af- 
fections were  social  and  generous,  and  when  he  had  money 
he  gave  it  away  very  liberally.  His  desire  of  imaginary  con- 
sequence predominated  over  his  attention  to  truth.  When 
he  began  to  rise  into  notice,  he  said  he  had  a  brother  who 
was  Dean  of  Durham",  a  fiction  so  easily  detected,  that  it  is 
wonderful  how  he  should  have  been  so  inconsiderate  as  to 
hazard  it.  He  boasted  to  me  at  this  time  of  the  power  of 
his  pen  in  commanding  money,  which  1  believe  w-as  true  in 
a  certain  degree,  though  in  the  instance  he  gave  he  was  by 
no  means  correct.  He  told  me  that  he  had  sold  a  novel  for 
four  hundred  pounds.  This  was  his  Vicar  of  Wakefield. 
But  Johnson  informed  me,  that  he  had  made  the  bargain 
for  Goldsmith,  and  the  price  was  sixty  pounds'.     '  And,  Sir, 

'  He  went  home  with  Mr.  Burke  to  supper;  and  broke  his  shin  by 
attempting  to  exhibit  to  the  company  how  much  better  he  could  jump 
over  a  stick  than  the  puppets.  Boswell.  Mr.  Hoole  was  one  day 
in  a  coach  with  Johnson,  when  'Johnson,  who  delighted  in  rapidity  of 
pace,  and  had  been  speaking  of  Goldsmith,  put  his  head  out  of  one  of 
the  windows  to  see  they  were  going  right,  and  rubbing  his  hands  with 
an  air  of  satisfaction  exclaimed: — "This  man  drives  fast  and  well; 
were  Goldsmith  here  now  he  would  tell  us  he  could  do  better."* 
Prior's  Goldsmith,  ii.  127. 

'  Set  posf,  April  9,  1773;  also  April  9,  1778,  where  Johnson  says, 
'  Goldsmith  had  no  settled  notions  upon  any  subject.' 

'  I  am  willing  to  hope  that  there  may  have  been  some  mistake  as 
to  this  anecdote,  though  I  had  it  from  a  Dignitary  of  the  Church. 
Dr.  Isaac  Goldsmith,  his  near  relation,  was  Dean  of  Cloyne,  in  1747. 
Boswell.     This  note  first  appears  in  the  second  edition. 

*  Mr.  Welsh,  in  A  Bookseller  of  the  Last  Century,  p.  58.  quotes  the 
following  entry  from  an  account-book  of  B.  Collins  of  Salisbury,  the 
printer  of  the  first  edition  of  the  Vicar : — '  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  2  vols. 
i2mo.,  ird.  B.  Collins,  Salisbury,  bought  of  Dr.  Goldsmith,  the  au- 
thor, October  28,  1762,  ^21.'  Goldsmith,  it  should  .seem  from  this,  as 
Collins's  third  share  was  worth  twenty  guineas,  was  paid  not  sixty 
pounds,  but  sixty  guineas.     Collins  shared  in  many  of  the  ventures  of 

(said 


Aetat.54.]  'I'lIE    \/lCAR   OF  WaKEFIELD.  48 1 

(said  he,)  a  sufficient  price  too,  when  it  was  sold  ;  for  then 
the  fame  of  Goldsmith  had  not  been  elevated,  as  it  after- 
wards was,  by  his  Traveller ;  and  the  bookseller  had  such 
faint  hopes  of  profit  by  his  bargain,  that  he  kept  the  manu- 
script by  him  a  long  time,  and  did  not  publish  it  till  after 
Tlic  Traveller  had  appeared'.  Then,  to  be  sure,  it  was  acci- 
dentally worth  more  money\' 

Mrs.  Piozzi'  and  Sir  John  Hawkins*  have  strangely  mis- 
stated the  history  of  Goldsmith's  situation  and  Johnson's 
friendly  interference,  when  this  novel  was  sold.  I  shall  give 
it  authentically  from  Johnson's  owm  exact  narration  : — '  I 
received  one  morning  a  message  from  poor  Goldsmith  that 
he  was  in  great  distress,  and  as  it  was  not  in  his  power  to 
come  to  me,  begging  that  I  would  come  to  him  as  soon  as 
possible.  I  sent  him  a  guinea,  and  promised  to  come  to  him 
directly.  I  accordingly  went  as  soon  as  I  was  drest,  and 
found  that  his  landlady  had  arrested  him  for  his  rent,  at 
which  he  was  in  a  violent  passion.  I  perceived  that  he 
had  already  changed  my  guinea,  and  had  got  a  bottle  of 

Newbery,  Goldsmith's  publisher.  Mr.  Welsh  says  {ib.  p.  61)  that  Col- 
lins's  accounts  show  'that  the  first  three  editions  resulted  in  a  loss.' 
If  this  was  so,  the  booksellers  must  have  been  great  bunglers,  for  the 
book  ran  through  three  editions  in  si.x  or  seven  months.  Forster's 
Goldsmith,  i.  425. 

'  The  Traveller  (price  one  shilling  and  sixpence)  was  published  in 
December  1764,  and  The  Vicar  of  W'akefuid  in  March  1766.  In  Au- 
gust 1765  the  fourth  edition  of  The  Traveller  appeared,  and  the  ninth 
in  the  year  Goldsmith  died.  He  received  for  it  £p.\.  Forster's  Gold- 
smith, i.  364,  374.  409.     See  ante,  p.  224,  note  i. 

'  '"Miss  Burney,"  said  Mrs.  Thrale  [to  Dr.  Johnson],  "is  fond  of 
The  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  and  so  am  I.  Don't  you  like  it.  Sir.'"  "  No, 
madam,  it  is  very  faulty;  there  is  nothing  of  real  life  in  it,  and  very 
little  of  nature.  It  is  a  mere  fanciful  performance."  '  Mme.  D' Arblay  s 
Diary, '\.Z-}y.  'There  are  a  hundred  faults  in  this  Thing,' said  Gold- 
smith in  the  preface,  '  and  a  hundred  things  might  be  said  to  prove 
them  beauties.  But  it  is  needless.  A  book  may  be  amusing  with 
numerous  errors,  or  it  may  be  very  dull  without  a  single  absurdity.' 
See /^j/,  April  25,  1778. 

'  Anecdotes  of  Johnson,  p.  1 19.     BOSWELL. 

*  Life  of  Johnson,  p.  420.     BosWELL. 

I. — 31  Madeira 


482  The  Vjcar  of  Wakefield.  [a.d.  1763. 


Madeira  and  a  glass  before  him".  I  put  the  cork  into  the 
bottle,  desired  he  would  be  calm,  and  began  to  talk  to  him 
of  the  means  by  which  he  might  be  extricated.  He  then 
told  me  that  he  had  a  novel  ready  for  the  press,  which  he 
produced  to  me.  I  looked  into  it,  and  saw  its  merit ;  told 
the  landlady  I  should  soon  return,  and  having  gone  to  a 
bookseller,  sold  it  for  sixty  pounds.  I  brought  Goldsmith 
the  monc)',  and  he  discharged  his  rent,  not  without  rating 
his  landlady  in  a  high  tone  for  having  used  him  so  ill".' 

My  next  meeting  with  Johnson  was  on  Friday  the  1st  of 
July,  when  he  and  I  and  Dr.  Goldsmith  supped  together  at 
the  Mitre.  I  was  before  this  time  pretty  well  acquainted 
with  Goldsmith,  who  was  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of 


'  In  his  imprudence  he  was  Hke  Savage,  of  whom  Johnson  says 
{Works, \\\\.  161  j  : — 'To  supply  him  with  money  was  a  hopeless  at- 
tempt ;  for  no  sooner  did  he  see  himself  master  of  a  sum  sufficient  to 
set  him  free  from  care  for  a  day,  than  he  became  profuse  and  luxu- 
rious.' When  Savage  was  '  lodging  in  the  liberties  of  the  Fleet,  his 
friends  sent  him  every  Monday  a  guinea,  which  he  commonly  spent 
before  the  next  morning,  and  trusted,  after  his  usual  manner,  the  re- 
maining part  of  the  week  to  the  bounty  of  fortune.'     lb.  p.  170. 

■^  It  may  not  be  improper  to  annex  here  Mrs.  Piozzi's  account  of 
this  transaction,  in  her  own  words,  as  a  specimen  of  the  extreme  in- 
accuracy with  which  all  her  anecdotes  of  Dr.  Johnson  are  related,  or 
rather  discoloured  and  distorted  :— '  I  have  forgotten  the  year,  but  it 
could  scarcely,  I  think,  be  later  than  1765  or  1766  that  he  was  called 
abruptly  from  our  house  after  dinner,  and  returning  in  about  three 
hours,  said  he  had  been  with  an  enraged  authour,  whose  landlady 
pressed  him  for  payment  within  doors,  while  the  bailiffs  beset  him 
without ;  that  he  was  drinking  himself  drunk  with  Madeira,  to  drown 
care,  and  fretting  over  a  novel,  which,  when  finished,  was  to  be  his 
ivhole  fortune,  but  he  could  not  get  it  done  for  distraction,  nor  could 
he  step  out  of  doors  to  offer  it  for  sale.  Mr.  Johnson,  therefore,  sent 
away  the  bottle,  and  went  to  the  bookseller,  recommending  the  per- 
formance, and  desiring  some  immediate  relief ;  which  when  he  brought 
back  to  the  writer,  he  called  the  ivoman  of  the  house  directly  to  partake 
of  punch,  and  pass  their  time  in  merriment.'  Anecdotes  of  Dr.  John- 
son, p.  119.  BoswELL.  The  whole  transaction  took  place  in  1762,  as 
is  shown,  ante,  p.  480,  note  4 ;  Johnson  did  not  know  the  Thrales  till 
1764, 

the 


Aetat.  54.]  Dr.  yofifi  Campbell.  483 

the  Johnsonian  school'.  Goldsmith's  respectful  attachment 
to  Johnson  was  then  at  its  height ;  for  his  own  literary  repu- 
tation had  not  yet  distinguished  him  so  much  as  to  excite 
a  vain  desire  of  competition  with  his  great  Master.  He  had 
increased  my  admiration  of  the  goodness  of  Johnson's  heart, 
by  incidental  remarks  in  the  course  of  conversation,  such  as, 
when  I  mentioned  Mr.  Levet,  whom  he  entertained  under 
his  roof,  '  He  is  poor  and  honest,  which  is  recommendation 
enough  to  Johnson  ;'  and  when  I  wondered  that  he  was  very 
kind  to  a  man  of  whom  I  had  heard  a  very  bad  character, 
'  He  is  now  become  miserable,  and  that  insures  the  protec- 
tion of  Johnson.' 

Goldsmith  attempted  this  evening  to  maintain,  I  suppose 
from  an  affectation  of  paradox, '  that  knowledge  was  not  de- 
sirable on  its  own  account,  for  it  often  was  a  source  of  un^ 
happiness.'  Johnson.  '  Why,  Sir,  that  knowledge  may  in 
some  cases  produce  unhappiness,  I  allow.  But,  upon  the 
whole,  knowledge, /^T  sc,  is  certainly  an  object  which  every 
man  would  wish  to  attain,  although,  perhaps,  he  may  not 
take  the  trouble  necessary  for  attaining  it\' 

Dr.  John  CampbelP,  the  celebrated  political  and  biography 
ical  writer,  being  mentioned,  Johnson  said,  '  Campbell  is  a 
man  of  much  knowledge,  and  has  a  good  share  of  imagina- 
tion. His  Hcrinippus  Redivivus^  is  very  entertaining,  as  an 
account  of  the  Hermetick  philosophy,  and  as  furnishing  a 
curious  history  of  the  extravagancies  of  the  human  mind. 
If  it  were  merely  imaginary  it  would  be  nothing  at  all. 
Campbell  is  not  always  rigidly  careful  of  truth  in  his  con- 
versation ;   but  I  do  not  believe  there  is  any  thing  of  this 


*  Through  Goldsmith  Boswell  became  acquainted  with  Reynolds. 
In  his  Letter  to  the  People  of  Scotland  (p.  99),  he  says : — '  I  exhort  you, 
my  friends  and  countr^'men,  in  the  words  of  my  departed  Goldsmith, 
who  gave  me  many  nodes  Atticae,  and  gave  me  a  jewel  of  the  finest 
water — the  acquaintance  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.' 

*  "S^^  post,  July  30,  1763. 

*  See  post,  March  20,  1776,  and  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Oct.  17,  1773. 

*  Stepost,  March  15,  1776. 

carelessnes^ 


484  Dr.  John  Campbell.  [a.d.  1703, 

carelessness  in  his  books'.  Campbell  is  a  good  man,  a 
pious  man.  I  am  afraid  he  has  not  been  in  the  inside  of  a 
church  for  many  years* ;  but  he  never  passes  a  church 
without  pulling  off  his  hat".  This  shews  that  he  has  good 
principles\  I  used  to  go  pretty  often  to  Campbell's  on  a 
Sunday  evening^  till  I  began  to  consider  that  the  shoals  of 

'  '  Dr.  Campbell  was  an  entertaining  story-teller,  which  \sic\  some- 
times he  rather  embellished  ;  so  that  the  writer  of  this  once  heard 
Dr.  Johnson  say : — "  Campbell  will  lie,  but  he  never  lies  on  paper."  ' 
Gent.  Mag.  for  1785,  p.  969. 

'  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  he  was  misinformed  as  to  this  circum- 
stance. I  own  I  am  jealous  for  my  worthy  friend  Dr.  John  Campbell. 
For  though  Milton  could  without  remorse  absent  himself  from  pub- 
lick  worship  [Johnson's  Works,  V\\.  115]  I  cannot.  On  the  contrary, 
1  have  the  same  habitual  impressions  upon  my  mind,  with  those  of  a 
truely  venerable  Judge,  who  said  to  Mr.  Langton,  •  Friend  Langton,  If 
I  have  not  been  at  church  on  Sunday,  I  do  not  feel  myself  easy.'  Dr. 
Campbell  was  a  sincerely  religious  man.  Lord  Macartney,  who  is 
eminent  for  his  variety  of  knowledge,  and  attention  to  men  of  talents, 
and  knew  him  well,  told  me,  that  when  he  called  on  him  in  a  morn- 
ing, he  found  him  reading  a  chapter  in  the  Greek  New  Testament, 
which  he  informed  his  Lordship  was  his  constant  practice.  The 
quantity  of  Dr.  Campbell's  composition  is  almost  incredible,  and  his 
labours  brought  him  large  profits.  Dr.  Joseph  Warton  told  me  that 
Johnson  said  of  him, '  He  is  the  richest  authour  that  ever  grazed  the 
common  of  literature.'     Boswell. 

'  See.  post,  April  7,  1778.  Campbell  complied  with  one  of  the  Monita 
Padagogica  of  Erasmus.  "  Si  quem  praeteribis  natu  grandem,  magistra- 
tum,  sacerdotem,doctorem  .  .  .  memento  aperire  caput.  .  .  .  Itidem  faci- 
to  quum  praeteribis  asdem  sacram.'   Erasmus's  CoUoquics,  ed.  1867,  i.  36. 

*  Reynolds  said  of  Johnson : — '  He  was  not  easily  imposed  upon  by 
professions  to  honesty  and  candour ;  but  he  appeared  to  have  little 
suspicion  of  hypocrisy  in  religion.'  Taylor's  Reynolds,  ii.  459.  Bos- 
well, in  one  of  his  penitent  letters,  wrote  to  Temple  on  July  21,  1790: 
— •'  I  am  even  almost  inclined  to  think  with  you,  that  my  great  oracle 
Johnson  did  allow  too  much  credit  to  good  principles,  without  good 
practice.'     Letters  of  Boswell,  p.  327. 

*  Campbell  lived  in  '  the  large  new-built  house  at  the  north-west- 
corner  of  Queen  Square,  Bloomsbury,  whither,  particularly  on  a  Sun- 
day evening,  great  numbers  of  persons  of  the  first  eminence  for  science 
and  literature  resorted  for  the  enjoyment  of  conversation.'  Hawkins's 
Johnson,  p.  210. 

Scotchmen 


Aetat.54.]       ChurcJiUr s  attack  on  Johnson.  485 

Scotchmen  who  flocked  about  him  might  probably  say,  when 
anything  of  mine  was  well  done,  "  Ay,  ay,  he  has  learnt  this 
of  Cawmell!"  ' 

He  talked  very  contemptuously  of  Churchill's  poetry,  ob- 
serving, that  '  it  had  a  temporary  currency,  only  from  its 
audacity  of  abuse,  and  being  filled  with  living  names,  and 
that  it  would  sink  into  oblivion.'  I  ventured  to  hint  that  he 
was  not  quite  a  fair  judge,  as  Churchill  had  attacked  him 
violently.  JOHNSON.  '  Nay,  Sir,  I  am  a  very  fair  judge. 
He  did  not  attack  me  violently  till  he  found  I  did  not  like 
his  poetry' ;  and  his  attack  on  me  shall  not  prevent  me  from 
continuing  to  say  what  I  think  of  him,  from  an  apprehension 
that  it  may  be  ascribed  to  resentment.  No,  Sir,  I  called  the 
fellow  a  blockhead"*  at  first,  and  I  will  call  him  a  blockhead 
still.  However,  I  will  acknowledge  that  I  have  a  better 
opinion  of  him  now,  than  I  once  had  ;  for  he  has  shewn 
more  fertility  than  I  expected\  To  be  sure,  he  is  a  tree 
that  cannot  produce  good  fruit :  he  only  bears  crabs.  But, 
Sir,  a  tree  that  produces  a  great  many  crabs  is  better  than  a 
tree  which  produces  only  a  few.' 


'  Churchill,  in  his  first  poem,  T/u-  Rosciad  {Poems,  i.  4),  mentions 
Johnson  without  any  disrespect  among  those  who  were  thought  of  as 
judge. 

'  For  Johnson  some,  but  Johnson,  it  was  feared, 
Would  be  too  grave ;  and  Sterne  too  gay  appeared.' 
In  TJie  Author  {ih.  ii.  36),  if  I  mistake  not,  he  grossly  alludes  to  the 
convulsive  disorder  to  which  Johnson  was  subject.     Attacking  the 
pensioners  he  says — the  italics  are  his  own : — 

'Others,  half-palsied  only,  mutes  become. 
And  what  makes  Smollett  write  makes  Johnson  dumb.' 
"  See.  post,  April  6,  1772,  where  Johnson  called  Fielding  a  blockhead. 
'  Churchill  published  his  first  poem.  The  Rosciad,  in  March  or  April 
1 761  {Gent.  Mag.  x.x.xi.  190)  ;   The  Apology  in  May  or  June  (id.  p.  286)  ; 
Night  in  Jan.  1762  (//;.  xxxii.47) ;  The  First  and  Second  Parts  of  The 
Ghost  in  March  {ib.  p.  147)  ;  The  Third  Part  in  the  autumn  {il?.  p.  449) ; 
The  Prophecy  of  Famine  in  Jan.  1763  (ib.  x.xxiii.  47),  and  The  Epistle 
to  Hogarth  in  this  month  of  July  (ib.  p.  363).     He  wrote  the  fourth 
part  of   The  Ghost,  and  nine  more  poems,  and  died  on  Nov.  4,  1764, 
aged  thirty-two  or  thirty-three. 

In 


486  Churchiir s  poetry.  [a.d.  1763. 

In  this  depreciation  of  Churchill's  poetry  I  could  not 
agree  with  him'.  It  is  very  true  that  the  greatest  part  of 
it  is  upon  the  topicks  of  the  day,  on  which  account,  as  it 
brought  him  great  fame  and  profit  at  the  time\  it  must  pro- 
portionally slide  out  of  the  publick  attention  as  other  oc- 
casional objects  succeed.  But  Churchill  had  extraordinary 
vigour  both  of  thought  and  expression.  His  portraits  of 
the  players  will  ever  be  valuable  to  the  true  lovers  of  the 
drama ;  and  his  strong  caricatures  of  several  eminent  men 
of  his  age,  will  not  be  forgotten  by  the  curious.  Let  me 
add,  that  there  are  in  his  works  many  passages  which  are  of 
a  general  nature' ;  and  his  PropJiecy  of  Famine  is  a  poem  of 
no  ordinary  merit.  It  is,  indeed,  falsely  injurious  to  Scotland, 
but  therefore  may  be  allowed  a  greater  share  of  invention. 

Bonnell  Thornton  had  just  published  a  burlesque  Ode  on 
St.  Cecilia  s  day,  adapted  to  the  ancient  British  miisick,  viz. 
the  salt-box,  the  Jew's-harp,  the  marrow-bones  and  cleaver,  the 

'  '  Cowper  had  a  higher  opinion  of  Churchill  than  of  any  other 
contemporary  writer.  "  It  is  a  great  thing,  "  he  said,  "to  be  indeed  a 
poet,  and  does  not  happen  to  more  than  one  man  in  a  century;  but 
Churchill,  the  great  Churchill,  deserved  that  name."  He  made  him, 
more  than  any  other  writer,  his  model.'     Southey's  Cowper,  i.  87,  8. 

*  Mr.  Forster  says  that '  Churchill  asked  five  guineas  for  the  manu- 
script of  The  Rosciad  (according  to  Southey.  but  Mr.  Tooke  says  he 
asked  twenty  pounds).'  Finding  no  purchaser  he  brought  the  poem 
out  at  his  own  risk.  Mr.  Forster  continues  ; — '  The  pulpit  had  starved 
him  on  forty  pounds  a  year;  the  public  had  given  him  a  thousand 
pounds  in  two  months.'  Forster's  Essays,  ii.  226.  240.  As  The  Rosciad 
was  sold  at  one  shilling  a  copy,  it  seems  incredible  that  such  a  gain 
could  have  been  made,  even  with  the  profits  of  The  Apology  included. 
'  Blotting  and  correcting  was  so  much  Churchill's  abhorrence  that  I 
have  heard  from  his  publisher  he  once  energetically  expressed  him- 
self, that  it  was  like  cutting  away  one's  own  flesh.'  D'Israeli's  Curios- 
tiics  of  Literature,  ed.  1834,  iii.  129.  D'Israeli  'had  heard  that  after  a 
successful  work  he  usually  precipitated  the  publication  of  another, 
relying  on  its  crudeness  being  passed  over  by  the  public  curiosity  ex- 
cited by  its  better  brother.  He  called  this  getting  double  pay,  for  thus 
he  secured  the  sale  of  a  hurried  work.' 

'  In  the  opening  lines  of  Gotham,  Bk.  iii,  there  is  a  passage  of  great 
beauty  and  tenderness. 

hutnstrum 


Aetat.  54.J  Bofinell  Thomtoii  s  Ode.  487 


humstrum  or  Jmrdy-giirdy,  &c.  Johnson  praised  its  humour, 
and  seemed  much  diverted  with  it.  He  repeated  the  follow- 
ing passage : — 

'  In  strains  more  exalted  the  salt-box  shall  join, 
And  clattering  and  battering  and  clapping  combine ; 
With  a  rap  and  a  tap  while  the  hollow  side  sounds. 
Up  and  down  leaps  the  flap,  and  with  rattling  rebounds'.' 

I  mentioned  the  periodical  paper  called  The  Connoissetir^. 
He  said  it  wanted  matter. — No  doubt  it  has  not  the  deep 
thinking  of  Johnson's  writings.  But  surely  it  has  just  views 
of  the  surface  of  life,  and  a  very  sprightly  manner.  His 
opinion  of  TJic  World  was  not  much  higher  than  of  The 
Connoisseur. 

Let  me  here  apologize  for  the  imperfect  manner  in  which 
I  am  obliged  to  exhibit  Johnson's  conversation  at  this  period. 
In  the  early  part  of  my  acquaintance  with  him,  I  was  so 
wrapt  in  admiration  of  his  extraordinary  colloquial  talents, 
and  so  little  accustomed  to  his  peculiar  mode  of  expression, 
that  I  found  it  extremely  difficult  to  recollect  and  record 
his  conversation  with  its  genuine  vigour  and  vivacity.  In 
progress  of  time,  when  my  mind  was,  as  it  were,  strongly  im- 
pregnated with  the  JoJinsonian  oether,  I  could,  with  much 
more  facility  and  exactness,  carry  in  my  memory  and  com- 
mit to  paper  the  exuberant  variety  of  his  wisdom  and  wit. 

At  this  time  Miss  Williams,  as  she  was  then  called,  though 
she  did  not  reside  with  him  in  the  Temple  under  his  roof, 
but  had  lodgings  in  Bolt-court,  Fleet-street',  had  so  much  of 


'  In  1769  I  set  Thornton's  burlesque  Ode.  It  was  performed  at 
Ranelagh  in  masks,  to  a  very  crowded  audience,  as  I  was  told ;  for  1 
then  resided  in  Norfolk.  Burnev.  Dr.  Barney's  note  cannot  be 
correct.  He  came  to  reside  in  London  in  1760  {^Memoirs  of  Dr.  Biir- 
7iey,\.  133).  The  Ode  is  in  the  list  of  'new  books,  published  '  in  the 
Gent.  Mag.  for  June  1763,  and  is  described  as  having  been  performed 
at  Ranelagh. 

'  The  Connoisseur  was  started  by  Thornton  and  Colman  in  1754. 
Cowp»er  and  Lloyd  were  contributors,     Southey's  Co-wper,  i.  46,  49,  65. 

'  See  ante,  p.  405,  note  3. 

his 


4^S,  Tea  2vith  Miss   Williams.  \\.\\  1763. 

liis  attjntion,  that  he  every  ni<^ht  drank  tea  with  her  before 
he  went  home,  however  late  it  might  be,  aiul  she  always 
sat  up  for  him.  This,  it  may  be  fairly  conjectured,  was  not 
alone  a  proof  of  his  regard  for  her,  but  of  his  own  unwilling- 
ness to  go  into  solitude,  before  that  unseasonable  hour  at 
w^hich  he  had  habituated  himself  to  expect  the  oblivion  of 
repose.  Dr.  Goldsmith,  being  a  privileged  man,  went  with 
him  this  night,  strutting  away,  and  calling  to  me  with  an  air 
of  superiority,  like  that  of  an  esoterick  over  an  exoterick 
disciple  of  a  sage  of  antiquity,  '  I  go  to  Miss  Williams.'  I 
confess,  I  then  envied  him  this  mighty  privilege,  of  \\  hich  he 
seemed  so  proud  ;  but  it  was  not  long  before  I  obtained  the 
same  mark  of  distinction'. 

On  Tuesday  the  5th  of  July,  I  again  visited  Johnson.  He 
told  me  he  had  looked  into  the  poems  of  a  pretty  volumi- 
nous writer,  Mr.  (now  Dr.)  John  Ogilvie,  one  of  the  Presby- 
terian ministers  of  Scotland,  which  had  lately  come  out,  but 
could  find  no  thinking  in  them.  BOSWELL.  '  Is  there  not 
imagination  in  them,  Sir?'  JOIINSON.  'Why,  Sir,  there  is 
in  them  what  zvas  imagination,  but  it  is  no  more  imagination 
in  him  than  sound  is  sound  in  the  echo.  And  his  diction  too 
is  not  his  own.  We  have  long  ago  seen  ivJiitc-robed  inno- 
cence, and  floiver-bespanglcd  meads i 

Talking  of  London,  he  observed,  'Sir,  if  you  wish  to  have 
a  just  notion  of  the  magnitude  of  this  city,  you  must  not  be 
satisfied  with  seeing  its  great  streets  and  squares,  but  must 
survey  the  innumerable  little  lanes  and  courts.  It  is  not  in 
the  showy  evolutions  of  buildings,  but  in  the  multiplicity  of 
human  habitations  which  are  crouded  together,  that  the  won- 
derful immensity  of  London  consists.' — I  have  often  amused 
myself  with  thinking  how  different  a  place  London  is  to 
different  people.  They,  whose  narrow  minds  are  contracted 
to  the  consideration  of  some  one  particular  pursuit,  view  it 
only  through  that  medium.  A  politician  thinks  of  it  merely 
as  the  seat  of  government  in  its  different  departments  ;  a  gra- 
zier, as  a  vast  market  for  cattle  ;  a  mercantile  man,  as  a  place 

*  Seeposi,  Aug.  2,  1763,  and  Oct.  26,  1769. 

where 


Aetat.54.]  Fertility  of  yohnsons  mind.  489 

where  a  prodigious  deal  of  business  is  done  upon  'Change ;  a 
dramatick  enthusiast,  as  the  grand  scene  of  theatrical  enter- 
tainments ;  a  man  of  pleasure,  as  an  assemblage  of  taverns, 
and  the  great  emporium  for  ladies  of  easy  virtue.  But  the 
intellectual  man  is  struck  with  it,  as  comprehending  the  whole 
of  human  life  in  all  its  variety,  the  contemplation  of  which  is 
inexhaustible'. 

On  Wednesday,  July  6,  he  was  engaged  to  sup  with  me  at 
my  lodgings  in  Downing-street,  Westminster.  But  on  the 
preceding  night  my  landlord  having  behaved  very  rudely  to 
me  and  some  company  who  were  with  me,  I  had  resolved 
not  to  remain  another  night  in  his  house.  I  was  exceedingly 
uneasy  at  the  aukward  appearance  I  supposed  I  should  make 
to  Johnson  and  the  other  gentlemen  whom  I  had  invited, 
not  being  able  to  receive  them  at  home,  and  being  obliged 
to  order  supper  at  the  Mitre.  I  went  to  Johnson  in  the 
morning,  and  talked  of  it  as  a  serious  distress.  He  laughed, 
and  said,  '  Consider,  Sir,  how  insignificant  this  will  appear  a 
twelvemonth  hence.' — Were  this  consideration  to  be  applied 
to  most  of  the  little  vexatious  incidents  of  life,  by  which  our 
quiet  is  too  often  disturbed,  it  would  prevent  many  painful 
sensations.  I  have  tried  it  frequently,  with  good  effect. 
'  There  is  nothing  (continued  he)  in  this  mighty  misfortune ; 
nay,  we  shall  be  better  at  the  Mitre.'  I  told  him  that  I  had 
been  at  Sir  John  Fielding's  office,  complaining  of  my  land- 
lord, and  had  been  informed,  that  though  I  had  taken  my 
lodgings  for  a  year,  I  might,  upon  proof  of  his  bad  behaviour, 
quit  them  when  I  pleased,  without  being  under  an  obligation 
to  pay  rent  for  any  longer  time  than  while  I  possessed  them. 
The  fertility  of  Johnson's  mind  could  shew  itself  even  upon 
so  small  a  matter  as  this.  '  Why,  Sir,  (said  he,)  I  suppose 
this  must  be  the  law,  since  you  have  been  told  so  in  Bow- 
street.  But,  if  your  landlord  could  hold  you  to  your  bar- 
gain, and  the  lodgings  should  be  yours  for  a  year,  you  may 
certainly  use  them  as  you  think  fit.  So,  Sir,  you  may  quarter 
two  life-guardsmen  upon  him  ;  or  you  may  send  the  greatest 

'  See.  post,  Sept.  20,  1777,  note. 

scoundrel 


490  Goldsjnitlis  cageryiess  to  shine.       |a.d.  1763. 

scoundrel  you  can  find  into  your  apartments ;  or  you  may 
say  that  you  want  to  make  some  experiments  in  natural 
philosophy,  and  may  burn  a  large  quantity  of  assafoetida  in 
his  house.' 

I  had  as  my  guests  this  evening  at  the  Mitre  tavern,  Dr. 
Johnson,  Dr.  Goldsmith,  Mr.  Thomas  Davies,  Mr.  tccle's,  an 
Irish  gentleman,  for  whose  agreeable  company  I  was  obliged 
to  Mr.  Davies,  and  the  Reverend  Mr.  John  Ogilvie',  who  was 
desirous  of  being  in  company  with  my  illustrious  friend, 
while  I,  in  my  turn,  was  proud  to  have  the  honour  of  shewing 
one  of  my  countrymen  upon  what  easy  terms  Johnson  per- 
mitted me  to  live  with  him. 

Goldsmith,  as  usual,  endeavoured,  with  too  much  eager- 
ness to  shinc^ ,  and  disputed  very  warmly  with  Johnscm  against 
the  well-known  maxim  of  the  British  constitution,  'the  King 
can  do  no  wrong;'  affirming,  that  'what  was  morall)-  false 
could  not  be  politically  true ;  and  as  the  King  might,  in  the 
exercise  of  his  regal  power,  command  and  cause  the  doing  of 
what  was  wrong,  it  certainly  might  be  said,  in  sense  and  in 
reason,  that  he  could  do  wrong.'  JOHNSON.  '  Sir,  you  are  to 
consider,  that  in  our  constitution,  according  to  its  true  prin- 
ciples, the  King  is  the  head  ;  he  is  supreme  ;  he  is  above 
every  thing,  and  there  is  no  power  by  which  he  can  be  tried. 
Therefore,  it  is,  Sir,  that  we  hold  the  King  can  do  no  wrong; 
that  whatever  may  happen  to  be  wrong  in  government  may 


'  The  northern  bard  mentioned  page  488.    When  I  asked  Dr.  John- 
son's permission  to  introduce  him,  he  obhgingly  agreed  ;  adding,  how- 
ever, with  a  sly  pleasantry,  'but  he  must  give  us  none  of  his  poetry.' 
It  is  remarkable  that  Johnson  and  Churchill,  however  much  they  dif- 
fered on  other  points,  agreed  on  this  subject.     See  Churchill's  Journey. 
['  Under  dark  Allegory's  flimsy  veil 
Let  Them  with  Ogilvie  spin  out  a  tale 
Of  rueful  length.'  Churchill's  Poems,  ii.  329.J 

It  is,  however,  but  justice  to  Dr.  Ogilvie  to  observe,  that  his  Day  of 
'Judgement  has  no  inconsiderable  share  of  merit.     Boswell. 

'  'Johnson  said: — "Goldsmith  should  not  be  for  ever  attempting  to 
shine  in  conversation."'     Post,  April  27,  1773.     See  also  post.  May  7, 

1773- 

not 


Aetat. 54]  The  lawfulness  of  rebellion.  491 

not  be  above  our  reach,  by  being  ascribed  to  Majesty*.  Re- 
dress is  always  to  be  had  against  oppression,  by  punishing 
the  immediate  agents.  The  King,  though  he  should  com- 
mand, cannot  force  a  Judge  to  condemn  a  man  unjustly  ; 
therefore  it  is  the  Judge  whom  we  prosecute  and  punish. 
Political  institutions  are  formed  upon  the  consideration  of 
what  will  most  frequently  tend  to  the  good  of  the  whole, 
although  now  and  then  exceptions  may  occur.  Thus  it  is 
better  in  general  that  a  nation  should  have  a  supreme  legis- 
lative power,  although  it  may  at  times  be  abused.  And  then, 
Sir,  there  is  this  consideration,  that  if  the  abtise  be  enormous, 
Nature  zvill  rise  tip,  and  claiming  her  original  rights,  overturn 
a  corrupt  political  system.'  I  mark  this  animated  sentence 
with  peculiar  pleasure,  as  a  noble  instance  of  that  truly  digni- 
fied spirit  of  freedom  which  ever  glowed  in  his  heart,  though 
he  was  charged  with  slavish  tenets  by  superficial  observers ; 
because  he  was  at  all  times  indignant  against  that  false 
patriotism,  that  pretended  love  of  freedom,  that  unruly  rest- 
lessness, which  is  inconsistent  with  the  stable  authority  of 
any  good  government'. 

This  generous  sentiment,  which  he  uttered  with  great  fer- 
vour, struck  me  exceedingly,  and  stirred  my  blood  to  that 
pitch  of  fancied  resistance,  the  possibility  of  which  I  am  glad 
to  keep  in  mind,  but  to  which  I  trust  I  never  shall  be  forced. 

'Great  abilities  (said  he)  are  not  requisite  for  an  Historian  ; 
for  in  historical  composition,  all  the  greatest  powers  of  the 
human  mind  are  quiescent.      He  has  facts  ready  to  his  hand  ; 

'  Fifteen  years  later  Lord  George  Germaine,  Secretary  of  State,  as- 
serted in  a  debate  'that  the  King  "was  his  own  Minister,"  which 
Charles  Fox  took  up  admirably,  lamenting  that  His  Majesty  "  was  his 
own  unadvised  Minister."  '  Walpole's  Journal  of  the  Reign  of  George 
HI,  ii.  314. 

* '  The  general  story  of  mankind  will  evince  that  lawful  and  settled 
authority  is  very  seldom  resisted  when  it  is  well  employed.  .  .  .  Men 
are  easily  kept  obedient  to  those  who  have  temporal  dominion  in  their 
hands,  till  their  veneration  is  dissipated  by  such  wickedness  and  folly 
as  can  neither  be  defended  nor  concealed.'  The  Rambler,  No.  50.  See 
post,  March  31,  1772. 

SO 


492  Mr,  Ogilvics  praise  of  Scotla^id.      [ad.  17G;3. 


so  there  is  no  exercise  of  invention.  Imagination  is  not  re- 
quired in  any  high  degree  ;  only  about  as  much  as  is  used  in 
the  lower  kinds  of  poetry.  Some  penetration,  accuracy,  and 
colouring  will  fit  a  man  for  the  task,  if  he  can  give  the  appli- 
cation which  is  necessary'.' 

'  l^ayle's  Dictionary  is  a  very  useful  work  for  those  to  con- 
sult who  love  the  biographical  part  of  literature,  which  is 
what  I  love  most'.' 

Talking  of  the  eminent  w  riters  in  Queen  Anne's  reign,  he 
observed, '  I  think  Dr.  Arbuthnot  the  first  man  among  them". 
He  w^as  the  most  universal  genius,  being  an  excellent  physi- 
cian, a  man  of  deep  learning,  and  a  man  of  much  humour. 
Mr.  Addison  was,  to  be  sure,  a  great  man  ;  his  learning  was 
not  profound  ;  but  his  morality,  his  humour,  and  his  elegance 
of  writing,  set  him  \Qxy  high.' 

Mr.  Ogilvie  was  unlucky  enough  to  choose  for  the  topick 
of  his  conversation  the  praises  of  his  native  country.  He  be- 
gan with  saying,  that  there  was  very  rich  land  round  Fldin- 
burgh.  Goldsmith,  who  had  studied  physick  there,  contradict- 
ed this,  very  untruly,  with  a  sneering  laugh'.     Disconcerted 


'  '  It  is  natural  to  believe  .  .  ,  that  no  writer  has  a  more  easy  task 
than  the  historian.  The  philosopher  has  the  works  of  omniscience  to 
examine.  .  .  The  poet  trusts  to  his  invention.  .  .  .  But  the  happy  his- 
torian has  no  other  labour  than  of  gathering  what  tradition  pours 
down  before  him,  or  records  treasure  for  his  use.'     The  Rambler,  No. 

122. 

*  See  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Aug.  21,  1773. 

*  '  Arbuthnot  was  a  man  of  great  comprehension,  skilful  in  his  pro- 
fession, versed  in  the  sciences,  acquainted  with  ancient  literature,  and 
able  to  animate  his  mass  of  knowledge  by  a  bright  and  active  imagi- 
nation ;  a  scholar  with  great  brilliancy  of  wit ;  a  wit,  who  in  the  crowd 
of  life  retained  and  discov'ered  a  noble  ardour  of  religious  zeal.'  John- 
N^n's  Works,  viii.  296. 

*  Goldsmith  wrote  from  Edinburgh  in  1753  : — '  Shall  I  tire  you  with 
a  description  of  this  unfruitful  country,  where  I  must  lead  you  over 
their  hills  all  brown  with  heath,  or  their  vallies  scarce  able  to  feed  a 
rabbit  ?  Man  alone  seems  to  be  the  only  creature  who  has  arrived  to 
the  natural  size  in  this  poor  soil.  Every  part  of  the  country  presents 
frh*  «ame  dismal  landscape.'     Forster's  Goldsmith,  i.  433. 

a  little 


Aetat.  54.]      A  Scotchman  s  7ioblest  prospect,  493 

a  little  by  this,  Mr.  Ogilvie  then  took  new  ground,  where,  I 
suppose,  he  thought  himself  perfectly  safe  ;  for  he  observed, 
that  Scotland  had  a  great  many  noble  wild  prospects.  JOHN- 
SON. '  I  believe,  Sir,  you  have  a  great  many.  Norvv^ay,  too, 
has  noble  wild  prospects ,  and  Lapland  is  remarkable  for 
prodigious  noble  wild  prospects.  But,  Sir,  let  me  tell  you, 
the  noblest  prospect  which  a  Scotchman  ever  sees,  is  the 
high  road  that  leads  him  to  England'!'  This  unexpected 
and  pointed  sally  produced  a  roar  of  applause.  After  all, 
however,  those,  who  admire  the  rude  grandeur  of  Nature, 
cannot  deny  it  to  Caledonia. 

On  Saturday,  July  9,  I  found  Johnson  surrounded  with  a 
numerous  levee,  but  have  not  preserved  any  part  of  his  con- 
versation. On  the  lAth  we  had  another  evening  by  ourselves 
at  the  Mitre.  It  happenmg  to  be  a  very  rainy  night,  I  made 
some  common-place  observations  on  the  relaxation  of  nerves 
and  depression  of  spirits  which  such  weather  occasioned* ; 
adding,  however,  that  it  was  good  for  the  vegetable  creation. 
Johnson,  who,  as  we  have  already  seen^,  denied  that  the  tem- 
perature of  the  air  had  any  influence  on  the  human  frame, 
answered,  with  a  smile  of  ridicule,  '  Why  yes,  Sir,  it  is  good 
for  vegetables,  and  for  the  animals  who  eat  those  vegetables, 
and  for  the  animals  who  eat  those  animals.'  This  observa- 
tion of  his  aptly  enough  introduced  a  good  supper ;  and  I 
soon  forgot,  in  Johnson's  company,  the  influence  of  a  moist 
atmosphere. 

Feeling  myself  now  quite  at  ease  as  his  companion,  though 
I  had  all  possible  reverence  for  him,  I  expressed  a  regret 
that  I  could  not  be  so  easy  with  my  father^  though  he  was 


'  See  BoswelFs  Hebrides,  Nov.  lo,  1773. 

^  Johnson  would  suffer  none  of  his  friends  to  fill  up  chasms  in  con- 
versation with  remarks  on  the  weather :  '  Let  us  not  talk  of  the 
weather.'     Burnev. 

'  See  artte,  p.  385. 

*  Boswell  wrote  to  Temple  on  Sept.  9,  1767  : — '  How  unaccountable 
is  It  that  my  father  and  I  should  be  so  ill  together !  He  is  a  man  of 
sense  and  a  man  of  worth ;  but  from  some  unhappy  turn  in  his  dis- 

not 


494  BoswelVs  father.  [a.d.  1763. 

not  much  older  than  Johnson,  and  certainly  however  respect- 
able had  not  more  learning  and  greater  abilities  to  depress 
me.  I  asked  him  the  reason  of  this.  JOHNSON.  'Why,  Sir, 
I  am  a  man  of  the  world.  I  live  in  the  world,  and  I  take,  in 
some  degree,  the  colour  of  the  world  as  it  moves  along. 
Your  father  is  a  Judge  in  a  remote  part  of  the  island,  and 
all  his  notions  are  taken  from  the  old  world.  Besides,  Sir, 
there  must  always  be  a  struggle  between  a  father  and  son, 
while  one  aims  at  power  and  the  other  at  independence'.'  I 
said,  I  was  afraid  my  father  would  force  me  to  be  a  lawyer. 
Johnson.  '  Sir,  you  need  not  be  afraid  of  his  forcing  you  to 
be  a  laborious  practising  lawyer;  that  is  not  in  his  power. 
For  as  the  proverb  says,  "  One  man  may  lead  a  horse  to  the 
water,  but  twenty  cannot  make  him  drink."  He  may  be  dis- 
pleased that  you  are  not  what  he  wishes  you  to  be  ;  but  that 
displeasure  will  not  go  far.  If  he  insists  only  on  your  having 
as  much  law  as  is  necessary  for  a  man  of  property,  anfi  then 
endeavours  to  get  you  into  Parliament,  he  is  quite  in  the  right.' 
He    enlarged    very  convincingly   upon  the   excellence  of 


position  he  is  much  dissatisfied  with  a  son  whom  you  know.  I  write 
to  him  with  warmth,  with  an  honest  pride,  wishing  that  he  should 
think  of  me  as  I  am  ;  but  my  letters  shock  him,  and  every  expression 
in  them  is  interpreted  unfavourably.  To  give  you  an  instance,  I  send 
you  a  letter  I  had  from  him  a  few  days  ago.  How  galling  is  it  to  the 
friend  of  Paoli  to  be  treated  so !  I  have  answered  him  in  my  own 
style;  I  will  be  myself.'  Letters  of  Boswe/l,\).  no.  In  the  following 
passage  in  one  of  his  Hypochondr lacks  he  certainly  describes  his  father. 
'  I  knew  a  father  who  was  a  violent  Whig,  and  used  to  attack  his  son 
for  being  a  Tory,  upbraiding  him  with  being  deficient  in  "  noble  senti- 
ments of  liberty,"  while  at  the  same  time  he  made  this  son  live  under 
his  roof  in  such  bondage,  that  he  was  not  only  afraid  to  stir  from  home 
without  leave,  like  a  child,  but  durst  scarcely  open  his  mouth  in  his 
father's  presence.  This  was  sad  living.  Yet  I  would  rather  see  such 
an  excess  of  awe  than  a  degree  of  familiarity  between  father  and  son 
by  which  all  reverence  is  destroyed.'     London  Mag.  1781,  p.  253. 

'  Boswell,  the  day  after  this  talk,  wrote  : — '  I  have  had  a  long  letter 
from  my  father,  full  of  affection  and  good  counsel.  Honest  man  '  he 
is  now  very  happy:  it  is  amazing  to  think  how  much  he  has  had  at 
heart,  my  pursuing  the  road  of  civil  life.'     Letters  of  Boswell,  p.  25. 

rhyme 


Aetat. 54.)         The  evidences  of  Christianity.  495 

rhyme  over  blank  verse  in  English  poetry'.  I  mentioned 
to  him  that  Dr.  Adam  Smith,  in  his  lectures  upon  composi- 
tion, when  I  studied  under  him  in  the  College  of  Glasgow, 
had  maintained  the  same  opinion  strenuously,  and  I  repeated 
some  of  his  arguments.  Johnson.  '  Sir,  I  was  once  in  com- 
pany with  Smith,  and  we  did  not  take  to  each  other';  but 
had  I  known  that  he  loved  rhyme  as  much  as  you  tell  me  he 
does,  I  should  have  HUGGED  him.' 

Talking  of  those  who  denied  the  truth  of  Christianity,  he 
said,  '  It  is  always  easy  to  be  on  the  negative  side.  If  a  man 
were  now  to  deny  that  there  is  salt  upon  the  table,  you  could 
not  reduce  him  to  an  absurdity.  Come,  let  us  try  this  a  little 
further.  I^deny  that  Canada  is  taken,  and  I  can  support  my 
denial  by  pretty  good  arguments.  The  French  are  a  much 
more  numerous  people  than  we ;  and  it  is  not  likely  that 
they  would  allow  us  to  take  it.  "  But  the  ministry  have 
assured  us,  in  all  the  formality  of  TJic  Gazette,  that  it  is 
taken." — Very  true.  But  the  ministry  have  put  us  to  an 
enormous  expence  by  the  war  in  America,  and  it  is  their  in- 
terest to  persuade  us  that  we  have  got  something  for  our 
money. — "  But  the  fact  is  confirmed  by  thousands  of  men 
who  were  at  the  taking  of  it." — Ay,  but  these  men  have  still 
more  interest  in  deceiving  us.     They  don't  want  that  you 

'  Gray,  says  Nicholls, '  disliked  all  poetry  in  blank  verse,  except  Mil- 
ton.' Gray's  Works,  ed.  1858,  v.  36.  Goldsmith,  in  his  Present  State 
of  Polite  Learning  (ch.  xi.),  wrote  in  1759: — 'From  a  desire  in  the 
critic  of  grafting  the  spirit  of  ancient  languages  upon  the  English  have 
proceeded  of  late  several  disagreeable  instances  of  pedantry.  Among 
the  number,  I  think,  we  may  reckon  blank  verse.  Nothing  but  the 
greatest  sublimity  of  subject  can  render  such  a  measure  pleasing ; 
however,  we  now  see  it  used  upon  the  most  trivial  occasions.'  On 
the  same  page  he  speaks  of  'the  tuneless  flow  of  our  blank  verse.' 
See  post,  1770,  in  Dr.  Maxwell's  Collectanea  and  the  beginning  of 
1781,  under  The  Life  of  Milton,  for  Johnson's  opinion  of  blank 
verse. 

*  '  Johnson  told  me,  that  one  day  in  London,  when  Dr.  Adam  Smith 
was  boasting  of  Glasgow,  he  turned  to  him  and  said,  "  Pray,  Sir,  have 
you  ever  seen  Brentford?'"  ^o^'ff&W^  Hebrides,  Oct.  29,  1773.  See 
post^  April  29,  1778. 

should 


bt<^^ 


496  Idleness  a  disease.  [a. d.  1763. 


should  think  the  French  have  beat  them,  but  that  they  have 
beat  the  French.  Now  suppose  you  should  go  over  and  find 
that  it  is  really  taken,  that  would  only  satisfy  yourself ;  for 
when  you  come  home  we  will  not  believe  you.  We  will  say, 
you  have  been  bribed.— Yet,  Sir,  notwithstanding  all  these 
plausible  objections,  we  have  no  doubt  that  Canada  is  really 
ours.  Such  is  the  weight  of  common  testimony.  How  much 
stronger  are  the  evidences  of  the  Christian  religion  I' 

'  Idleness  is  a  disease  which  must  be  combated  ;  but  I 
would  not  advise  a  rigid  adherence  to  a  particular  plan  of 
study.  I  myself  have  never  persisted  in  any  plan  for  two 
days  together.  A  man  ought  to  read  just  as  inclination  leads 
him  ;  for  what  he  reads  as  a  task  will  do  him  little  good. 
A  young  man  should  read  five  hours  in  a  day,  and  so  may 
acquire  a  great  deal  of  knowledge'.' 

To  a  man  of  vigorous  intellect  and  arduous  curiosity  like 
his  own,  reading  without  a  regular  plan  may  be  beneficial ; 
though  even  such  a  man  must  submit  to  it,  if  he  would  attain 
a  full  understanding  of  any  of  the  sciences. 

To  such  a  degree  of  unrestrained  frankness  had  he  now 
accustomed  me,  that  in  the  course  of  this  evening  I  talked  of 
the  numerous  reflections  which  had  been  thrown  out  against 
him^  on  account  of  his  having  accepted  a  pension  from  his 

'  '  He  advised  me  to  read  just  as  inclination  prompted  me,  which 
alone,  he  said,  would  do  me  any  good  ;  for  I  had  better  go  into  com- 
pany than  read  a  set  task.  He  said,  too,  that  I  should  prescribe  to 
myself  five  hours  a  day,  and  in  these  hours  gratify  whatever  literary 
desires  may  spring  up.'  Letters  of  Boswell,  p.  28.  The  Editor  of  these 
Letters  compares  Tranio's  advice  : — 

'  No  profit  grows  where  is  no  pleasure  ta'en  : 
In  brief.  Sir,  study  what  you  most  affect." 

Taming  of  the  Shrew,  act  i.  sc.  i. 
'  Johnson  used  to  say  that  no  man  read  long  together  with  a  folio  on 
his  table.  "  Books,"  said  he,  "  that  you  may  carry  to  the  fire,  and  hold 
readily  in  your  hand,  are  the  most  useful  after  all."  '  Johnson's  Works 
(1787),  xi.  197.  See  also  The  Idler,  No.  67,  and  post,  April  12,  1776,  and 
under  Sept.  22,  1777. 

*  Wilkes,  among  others,  had  attacked  him  in  Aug.  1762  in  The  North 
Briton,  Nos.  xi.  and  xii. 

present 


Aetat.  54.]  yohftson  s  pension.  497 

present  Majesty.  '  Why,  Sir,  (said  he,  with  a  hearty  laugh,) 
it  is  a  mighty  foolish  noise  that  they  make'.  I  have  accepted 
of  a  pension  as  a  reward  which  has  been  thought  due  to  my 
literary  merit;  and  now  that  I  have  this  pension,  I  am  the 
same  man  in  every  respect  that  I  have  ever  been^;  I  retain 
the  same  principles.  It  is  true,  that  I  cannot  now  curse 
(smiling)  the  House  of  Hanover;  nor  would  it  be  decent  for 
me  to  drink  King  James's  health  in  the  wine  that  King 
George  gives  me  money  to  pay  for.  But,  Sir,  I  think  that 
the  pleasure  of  cursing  the  House  of  Hanover,  and  drinking 
King  James's  health,  are  amply  overbalanced  by  three  hun- 
dred pounds  a  year.' 

There  was  here,  most  certainly,  an  affectation  of  more 
Jacobitism  than  he  really  had  ;  and  indeed  an  intention  of 
admitting,  for  the  moment,  in  a  much  greater  extent  than  it 
really  existed,  the  charge  of  disaffection  imputed  to  him  by 
the  world',  merely  for  the  purpose  of  shewing  how  dexter- 
ously he  could  repel  an  attack,  even  though  he  were  placed 
in  the  most  disadvantageous  position  ;  for  I  have  heard  him 
declare,  that  if  holding  up  his  right  hand  would  have  secured 
victory  at  Culloden  to  Prince  Charles's  army,  he  was  not  sure 

'  When  I  mentioned  the  same  idle  clamour  to  him  several  years 
afterwards,  he  said,  with  a  smile,  '  I  wish  my  pension  were  twice  as 
large,  that  they  might  make  twice  as  much  noise.'     Boswell. 

'  In  one  thing  at  least  he  was  changed.  He  could  now  indulge  in 
the  full  bent,  to  use  his  own  words  {Works,  viii.  136),  'that  inquisitive- 
ness  which  must  always  be  produced  in  a  vigorous  mind,  by  an  abso- 
lute freedom  from  all  pressing  or  domestick  engagements.' 

'  See  post,  April  13,  1773,  Sept.  17  and  19,  1777,  March  21,  1783,  and 
June  9,  1784.  Lord  Shelburne  says : — '  After  the  Revolution  the  Tory 
and  Jacobite  parties  had  become  almost  identified  by  their  together 
opposing  the  Court  for  so  many  years,  and  still  more  by  the  persecu- 
tion which  they  suffered  in  common,  for  it  was  the  policy  of  Sir  Robert 
Walpole  to  confound  them  as  much  as  possible,  so  as  to  throw  the 
Jacobite  odium  upon  every  man  who  opposed  government.'  Fitz- 
maurice's  Shelburne,  i.  35.  Lord  Bolingbroke  ( ]Vorks,  iii.  28)  com- 
plains that  the  writers  on  the  side  of  the  ministry  'frequently  throw 
out  that  every  man  is  a  friend  to  the  Pretender  who  is  not  a  friend  to 
Walpole.' 

I.— 32  he 


49'^  yohnsons  yacobitism.  [a.d.  1763. 


he  would  have  held  it  up ;  so  little  confidence  had  he  in  the 
right  claimed  by  the  house  of  Stuart,  and  so  fearful  was  he 
of  the  consequences  of  another  revolution  on  the  throne  of 
Great-Britain;  and  Mr. Topham  Beauclerk  assured  me, he  had 
heard  him  say  this  before  he  had  his  pension.  At  another 
time  he  said  to  Mr.  Langton,  '  Nothing  has  ever  offered,  that 
has  made  it  worth  my  while  to  consider  the  question  fully." 
He,  however,  also  said  to  the  same  gentleman,  talking  of 
King  James  the  Second,  '  It  was  become  impossible  for  him 
to  reign  any  longer  in  this  country'.'  He  no  doubt  had  an 
early  attachment  to  the  House  of  Stuart  ;  but  his  zeal  had 
cooled  as  his  reason  strengthened.  Indeed  I  heard  him  once 
say,  that  '  after  the  death  of  a  violent  Whig,  with  whom  he 
used  to  contend  with  great  eagerness,  he  felt  his  Toryism 
much  abated".'     I  suppose  he  meant  Mr.  Walmsley\ 

Yet  there  is  no  doubt  that  at  earlier  periods  he  was  wont 
often  to  exercise  both  his  pleasantry  and  ingenuity  in  talk- 
ing Jacobitism.  My  much  respected  friend.  Dr.  Douglas, 
now  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  has  favoured  me  with  the  follow- 
ing admirable  instance  from  his  Lordship's  own  recollection. 
One  day  when  dining  at  old  Mr.  Langton's  where  Miss  Rob- 
ertsV  his  niece,  was  one  of  the  company,  Johnson,  with  his 
usual  complacent  attention  to  the  fair  sex,  took  her  by  the 
hand  and  said,  '  My  dear,  I  hope  you  are  a  Jacobite.'  Old 
Mr.  Langton,  who,  though  a  high  and  steady  Tory,  was  at- 
tached to  the  present  Royal  Family,  seemed  offended,  and 
asked  Johnson,  with  great  warmth,  what  he  could  mean  by 
putting  such  a  question  to  his  niece  ?  '  Why,  Sir,  (said  John- 
son) I  meant  no  offence  to  your  niece,  I  meant  her  a  great 
compliment.  A  Jacobite,  Sir,  believes  in  the  di\ine  right 
of  Kings.      He  that  believes  in  the  divine  right  of  Kings 

'  See/cj/.  April  6,  1775. 

'^  journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  3rd  edit.  p.  402  [Nov.  10].  Bos- 
WELL. 

*  Mr.  Walmsley  died  in  1751  (rt:;//^.  p.  94).  Johnson  left  Lichfield  in 
1737-  Unless  Mr.  Walmsley  after  1737  visited  London  from  time  to 
time,  he  can  scarcely  be  meant. 

*  See  ante,  p.  389. 

believes 


Aetat.  54.]  Whiggism.  499 

believes  in  a  Divinity.  A  Jacobite  believes  in  the  divine 
right  of  Bishops.  He  that  believes  in  the  divine  right  of 
Bishops  believes  in  the  divine  authority  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. Therefore,  Sir,  a  Jacobite  is  neither  an  Atheist  nor 
a  Deist.  That  cannot  be  said  of  a  Whig  ;  for  Whiggistn  is 
a  negation  of  all  principle" .' 

He  advised  me,  when  abroad,  to  be  as  much  as  I  could 
with  the  Professors  in  the  Universities,  and  with  the  Clergy; 
for  from  their  conversation  I  might  expect  the  best  accounts 
of  every  thing  in  whatever  country  I  should  be,  with  the 
additional  advantage  of  keeping  my  learning  alive. 

It  will  be  observed,  that  when  giving  me  advice  as  to  my 
travels.  Dr.  Johnson  did  not  dwell  upon  cities,  and  palaces, 
and  pictures,  and  shows,  and  Arcadian  scenes.  He  was  of 
Lord  Essex's  opinion,  who  advises  his  kinsman  Roger  Earl 
of  Rutland,  '  rather  to  go  an  hundred  miles  to  speak  with 
one  wise  man,  than  five  miles  to  see  a  fair  town\' 

'  He  used  to  tell,  with  great  humour,  from  my  relation  to  him,  the 
following  little  story  of  my  early  years,  which  was  literally  true:  '  Bos- 
well,  in  the  year  1745,  was  a  fine  boy,  wore  a  white  cockade,  and  prayed 
for  King  James,  till  one  of  his  uncles  (General  Cochran)  gave  him  a 
shilling  on  condition  that  he  should  pray  for  King  George,  which  he 
accordingly  did.  So  you  see  (says  Boswell)  that  Whigs  of  all  ages 
are  tnade  the  same  way.'    BoswELL.    Johnson,  in  his  Dictionary  under 

Whiggism,  gives  only  one  quotation,  namely,  from  Swift :  '  I  could 
quote  passages  from  fifty  pamphlets,  wholly  made  up  of  whiggism  and 
atheism.'  See  post,  April  28,  1778,  where  he  said  :  '  I  have  always  said, 
the  first  Whig  was  the  Devil;'  and  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Oct.  21  and 
Nov.  8,  1773.  To  Johnson's  sayings  might  be  opposed  one  of  Lord 
Chatham's  in  the  House  of  Lords  :  '  There  are  some  distinctions  which 
are  inherent  in  the  nature  of  things.  There  is  a  distinction  between 
right  and  wrong — between  Whig  and  Tory.'     Pari.  Hist.  xvi.  1 107. 

'  Letter  to  Rutland  0?!  Travel,  i6mo.  is6g.  Boswell.  This  letter 
is  contained  in  a  little  volume  entitled.  Profitable  Instritctions ;  describ- 
ing ivhat  special  observations  are  to  be  takoi  by  travellers  in  all  fiations, 
states  and  countries  ;  pleasant  and  profitable.  By  the  three  much  ad- 
?nired,  Robert,  late  Earl  of  Essex,  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  and  Secretary 
Davison.     London.     Printed  for  Benjamin  Fisher,  at  the  Sign  of  the 

Talbot,  ix-'ithout  Aldersgate.  1633.  (Lowndes  gives  the  date  of  161 3, 
but  the  earliest  edition  seems  to  be  this  of  1633.J     The  letter  from 

I  described 


500  Loi'd  Hailes.  [a.d.  1768. 

I  described  to  him  an  impudent  fellow'  from  Scotland,  who 
affected  to  be  a  savage,  and  railed  at  all  established  systems. 
Johnson.  *  There  is  nothing  surprizing  in  this,  Sir.  He 
wants  to  make  himself  conspicuous.  He  would  tumble  in 
a  hogstyc,  as  long  as  you  looked  at  him  and  called  to  him 
to  come  out.  But  let  him  alone,  never  mind  him,  and  he'll 
soon  give  it  over.' 

I  added,  that  the  same  person,  maintained  that  there  was 
no  distinction  between  virtue  and  vice.  JOHNSON,  '  Why, 
Sir,  if  the  fellow  docs  not  think  as  he  speaks,  he  is  lying ; 
and  I  see  not  what  honour  he  can  propose  to  himself  from 
having  the  character  of  a  lyar.  But  if  he  does  really  think 
that  there  is  no  distinction  between  virtue  and  vice,  why.  Sir, 
when  he  leaves  our  houses  let  us  count  our  spoons'"'.' 

Sir  David  Dalrj^mple,  now  one  of  the  Judges  of  Scotland 
by  the  title  of  Lord  Hailes,  had  contributed  much  to  increase 
my  high  opinion  of  Johnson,  on  account  of  his  writings,  long 
before  I  attained  to  a  personal  acquaintance  with  him  ;  I,  in 
return,  had  informed  Johnson  of  Sir  David's  eminent  char- 
acter for  learning  and  religion^;  and  Johnson  was  so  much 


which  Boswell  quotes  is  entitled.  The  late  E.  of  E.  his  advice  to  the  E. 
of  R.ifi  his  Trave/s.  It  is  dated  Greenwich,  Jan.  4,  1596.  Mr.  Sped- 
ding  (Bacon's  Works,  ix.  4)  suggests  that  '  it  may  have  been  (wholly 
or  in  part)  written  by  Bacon.' 

'  Boswell  {Bostvclliana.  p.  210)  says  that  this  '  impudent  fellow'  was 
Macpherson. 

"  Boswell  repeated  this  saying  and  some  others  to  Paoli.  '  I  felt  an 
elation  of  mind  to  see  Paoli  delighted  with  the  sayings  of  Mr.  John- 
son and  to  hear  him  translate  them  with  Italian  energy  to  the  Corsi- 
can  heroes.'  Here  Boswell  describes  the  person  as  '  a  certain  au- 
thour.'     Boswell's  Corsica,  p.  199. 

'  Boswell  thus  takes  him  off  in  his  comic  poem  The  Court  of  Session 
Garland : — 

'"This  cause,"  cries  Hailes,  "to  judge  I  can't  pretend,. 
For  justice,  I  perceive,  wants  an  e  at  the  end." ' 
Mr.  R.  Chambers,  in  a  note  on  this,  says : — '  A  story  is  told  of  Lord 
Hailes  once  making  a  serious  objection  to  a  law-paper,  and  in  conse- 
quence to  the  whole  suit,  on  account  of  the  word  justice  being  thus 
spelt.'     Traditifl7is  of  Edinburgh,  \\.  161.     Burke  says  that  he  'found 

pleased. 


Aetat.  54.J  jfournal-kcepmg,  50 1 

pleased,  that  at  one  of  our  evening  meetings  he  gave  him 
for  his  toast.  I  at  this  time  kept  up  a  very  frequent  corre- 
spondence with  Sir  David  ,  and  I  read  to  Dr.  Johnson  to- 
night the  following  passage  from  the  letter  which  I  had 
last  received  from  him  : — 

'  It  gives  me  pleasure  to  think  that  you  have  obtained  the  friend- 
ship of  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson.  He  is  one  of  the  best  moral  writers 
which  England  has  produced.  At  the  same  time,  I  envy  you  the 
free  and  undisguised  converse  with  such  a  man.  ]\Iay  I  beg  you 
to  present  my  best  respects  to  him,  and  to  assure  him  of  the  ven- 
eration which  I  entertain  for  the  authour  of  the  Rambler  and  of 
Rasselasi  Let  me  recommend  this  last  work  to  you;  with  the 
Rambler  you  certainly  are  acquainted.  In  Rasselas  you  will  see  a 
tender-hearted  operator,  who  probes  the  wound  only  to  heal  it. 
Swift,  on  the  contrary,  mangles  human  nature.  He  cuts  and 
slashes,  as  if  he  took  pleasure  in  the  operation,  like  the  tyrant  who 
said,  Itaferi  ut  se  sentiat  emorP.' 

Johnson  seemed  to  be  much  gratified  by  this  just  and  well- 
turned  compliment. 

He  recommended  to  me  to  keep  a  journal  of  my  life,  full  and 
unreserved".  He  said  it  would  be  a  very  good  exercise,  and 
would  yield  me  great  satisfaction  when  the  particulars  were 
faded  from  my  remembrance.  I  was  uncommonly  fortunate 
in  having  had  a  previous  coincidence  of  opinion  with  him 
upon  this  subject,  for  I  had  kept  such  a  journal  for  some 


him  to  be  a  clever  man,  and  grenerally  knowing.'  Burke's  Corres.  iii. 
301.  See  ante,  p.  310,  and  post.  May  12,  1774,  and  Boswell's  Hebrides, 
Aug.  17,  1773. 

'  '  Ita  feri  ut  se  mori  sentiat.'     Suetonius,  Caligula,  chap.  xxx. 

*  Johnson  himself  was  constantly  purposing  to  keep  a  journal.  On 
April  II,  1773,  he  told  Boswell  'that  he  had  twelve  or  fourteen  times 
attempted  to  keep  a  journal  of  his  Xxi^'  post.  April  11,  1773.  The  day 
before  he  had  recorded  : — '  I  hope  from  this  time  to  keep  a  journal.' 
Pr.  and  Med.  p.  124.  Like  records  follow,  as: — 'Sept.  24,  1773.  My 
hope  is,  for  resolution  I  dare  no  longer  call  it,  to  divide  my  time  regu- 
larly, and  to  keep  such  a  journal  of  my  time,  as  may  give  me  comfort 
in  reviewing  it.'  lb.  p.  132.  'April  6,  1777.  My  purpose  once  more 
is  To  keep  a  journal.'  7(5.  p.  161.  'Jan.  2,1781.  My  hope  is  To  keep 
a  journal.'    lb.  p.  188.    See  2\^o  post,  April  14,  1775,  and  April  10,  1778. 

time  ; 


502  yournalkeeping.  [a. d.  1788, 

time';  and  it  was  no  small  pleasure  to  me  to  have  this  to  tell 
him,  and  to  receive  his  approbation.  He  counselled  me  to 
keep  it  private,  and  said  I  might  surely  have  a  friend  who 
would  burn  it  in  case  of  my  death.  From  this  habit  I  have 
been  enabled  to  give  the  world  so  many  anecdotes,  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  lost  to  posterity.  I  mentioned 
that  1  was  afraid  I  put  into  my  journal  too  many  little  inci- 
dents. Johnson.  'There  is  nothing,  Sir,  too  little  for  so 
little  a  creature  as  man.  It  is  by  studying  little  things  that 
\vc  attain  the  great  art  of  having  as  little  miserj^and  as  much 
happiness  as  possible^' 

Next  morning  Mr.  Dempster  happened  to  call  on  me,  and 
was  so  much  struck  even  with  the  imperfect  account  which 
I  gave  him  of  Dr.  Johnson's  conversation,  that  to  his  honour 
be  it  recorded,  when  I  complained  that  drinking  port  and 
sitting  up  late  with  him  affected  my  nerves  for  some  time 
after,  he  said,  '  One  had  better  be  palsied  at  eighteen  than 
not  keep  company  with  such  a  man'.' 

On  Tuesday,  July  i8*,  I  found  tall  Sir  Thomas  Robinson' 

*  Boswell,  when  he  was  only  eighteen,  going  with  his  father  to  the 
[Scotch]  Northern  Circuit,  'kept,'  he  writes,  'an  e.xact  journal.'  Let- 
ters of  Boswell,  p.  8.  In  the  autumn  of  1762  he  also  kept  a  journal 
which  he  sent  to  Temple  to  read.     lb.  p.  19. 

^  '  It  has  been  well  observed,  that  the  misery  of  man  proceeds  not 
from  any  single  crush  of  overwhelming  evil,  but  from  small  vexations 
continually  repeated.'  Johnson's  Works,  viii.  333.  '  The  main  of  life 
is  indeed  composed  of  small  incidents  and  petty  occurrences.'  lb.  ii. 
322.  Dr.  Franklin  {Memoirs,  i.  199)  says: — 'Human  felicity  is  pro- 
duced not  so  much  by  great  pieces  of  good  fortune  that  seldom  hap- 
pen as  by  little  advantages  that  occur  every  day.' 

'  Boswell  wrote  the  next  day  : — '  We  sat  till  between  two  and  three. 
He  took  me  by  the  hand  cordially,  and  said,  "  My  dear  Boswell,  I  love 
you  very  much."  Now  Temple,  can  I  help  indulging  vanity  ?'  Letters 
of  Boswell,  p.  27.  Fourteen  years  later  Boswell  was  afraid  that  he  kept 
Johnson  too  late  up.  '  No,  Sir,'  said  he, '  I  don't  care  though  I  sit  all 
night  with  you.'  Post,  Sept.  23,  1777.  See  also  post,  April  7,  1779, 
where  Johnson,  speaking  of  these  early  days,  said  to  Boswell,  '  it  was 
not  the  wine  that  made  your  head  ache,  but  the  sense  that  I  put  into  it.' 

*  Tuesday  was  the  19th. 

'  '  The  elder  brother  of  the   first    Lord    Rokeby,  called    long   Sir 

sitting 


Aetat.  54.J  Sir  Thomas  Robinson.  503 


sitting  with  Johnson.  Sir  Thomas  said,  that  the  King  of 
Prussia  valued  himself  upon  three  things ; — upon  being  a 
hero,  a  musician,  and  an  authour.  JOHNSON.  '  Pretty  well, 
Sir,  for  one  man.  As  to  his  being  an  authour,  I  have  not 
looked  at  his  poetry  ;  but  his  prose  is  poor  stuff.  He  writes 
just  as  you  might  suppose  Voltaire's  footboy  to  do,  who  has 
been  his  amanuensis.  He  has  such  parts  as  the  valet  might 
have,  and  about  as  much  of  the  colouring  of  the  style  as 
might  be  got  by  transcribing  his  works.'  When  I  was  at 
Ferney,  I  repeated  this  to  Voltaire,  in  order  to  reconcile  him 
somewhat  to  Johnson,  whom  he,  in  affecting  the  English 
mode  of  expression',  had  previously  characterised  as  'a  super- 
stitious dog;'  but  after  hearing  such  a  criticism  on  Frederick 
the  Great,  with  whom  he  was  then  on  bad  terms,  he  ex- 
claimed, 'An  honest  fellowM' 


Thomas  Robinson,  on  account  of  his  height,  and  to  distinguish  him 
from  Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  first  Lord  Grantham.     It  was  on  his  re- 
quest for  an  epigram  that  Lord  Chesterfield  made  the  distich  : — 
"  Unlike  my  subject  will  I  make  my  song. 
It  shall  be  witty,  and  it  shan't  be  long," 
and  to  whom  he  said  in  his  last  illness,  "Ah,  Sir  Thomas,  it  will  be 
sooner  over  with  me  than  it  would  be  with  you,  for  I  am   dying  by 
inches."     Lord    Chesterfield   was   very   short.'     Croker.      Southey, 
writing  of  Rokeby  Hall,  which  belonged  to  Robinson,  says  that  '  Long 
Sir  Thomas  found  a  portrait  of  Richardson  in  the  house ;  thinking 
Mr.  Richardson  a  very  unfit  personage  to  be  suspended  in  effigy  among 
lords,  ladies,  and  baronets,  he  ordered  the  painter  to  put  on  him  the 
star  and  blue  riband,  and  then  christened  the  picture  Sir  Robert  Wal- 
pole.'     Southey 's  Life,  iii.  346.     See  also  ante,  p.  301  note  i,  and  post, 
1770,  near  the  end  of  Dr.  Maxwell's  Collectanea. 

'  Pennant,  who  visited  Voltaire  in  1765,  says  that,  'in  his  attempt 
to  speak  English  he  satisfied  us  that  he  was  perfect  master  of  our 
oaths  and  curses.'     Pennant's  Literary  Life,  p.  6. 

•  Johnson  (  Works,  vi.  440)  had  written  of  Frederick  the  Great  in 
1756: — 'His  skill  in  poetry  and  in  the  French  language  has  been 
loudly  praised  by  Voltaire,  a  judge  without  exception  if  his  honesty 
were  equal  to  his  knowledge.'  Boswell,  in  his  Hypochondriacks,  re- 
cords a  conversation  that  he  had  with  Voltaire  on  memory  : — '  I  asked 
him  if  he  could  give  me  any  notion  of  the  situation  of  our  ideas  which 
we  have  totally  forgotten  at  the  time,  yet  shall  afterwards  recollect. 

But 


504  The  King  of  Prussia.  [a. d.  1763. 

But  I  think  the  criticism  much  too  severe ;  for  the  Me- 
moirs of  the  House  of  BrandenbiirgJi  are  written  as  well  as 
many  works  of  that  kind.  His  poetry,  for  the  style  of  which 
he  himself  makes  a  frank  apology,  '  Jargoniiant  tin  Ftancois 
barbare^  though  fraught  with  pernicious  ravings  of  infidel- 
ity, has,  in  many  places,  great  animation,  and  in  some  a 
pathetick  tenderness". 

Upon  this  contemptuous  animadversion  on  the  King  of 
Prussia,  I  observe4  "to  Johnson,  'It  would  seem  then.  Sir, 
that  much  less  parts  are  necessary  to  make  a  King,  than  to 
make  an  Authour;  for  the  King  of  Prussia  is  confessedly 
the  greatest  King  now  in  Europe,  yet  you  think  he  makes 
a  very  poor  figure  as  an  Authour.' 

Mr.  Levet  this  day  shewed  me  Dr.  Johnson's  library, 
which  was  contained  in  two  garrets  over  his  Chambers,  where 
Lintot,  son  of  the  celebrated  bookseller  of  that  name,  had 
formerly  his  warehouse'.  I  found  a  number  of  good  books, 
but    very   dusty   and   in    great    confusion".     The    floor  was 

He  paused,  meditated  a  little,  and  acknowledged  his  ignorance  in  the 
spirit  of  a  philosophical  poet  by  repeating  as  a  very  happy  allusion  a 
passage  in  Thomson's  Seasons — "Aye,"  said  he,  "  Where  sleep  the  winds 
when  it  is  calm?"'  London  Mag.  1783,  p.  157.  The  passage  is  in 
Thomson's  Winter,  1.  116: — 

'  In  what  far-distant  region  of  the  sky, 
Hush'd  in  deep  silence,  sleep  ye  when  'tis  calm?' 

*  Sec  post,  ii.  62,  note  2. 

'  Bernard  Lintot,  the  father,  published  Pope's  Iliad  and  Odyssey. 
Over  the  sale  of  the  Odyssey  a  quarrel  arose  between  the  two  men. 
Johnson's  Works,  \'\ii.  251,  274.  Lintot  is  attacked  in  the  Dunciad,  i. 
40  and  ii.  53.  He  was  High-SherifT  for  Sussex  in  1736 — the  year  of 
his  death.  Gent.  Mag.  \i.  no.  The  son  is  mentioned  in  Johnson's 
Works,  viii.  282. 

^  'July  19,  1763.  I  was  with  Mr.  Johnson  to-day.  I  was  in  his  gar- 
ret up  four  pair  of  stairs;  it  is  very  airy,  commands  a  view  of  St. 
Paul's  and  many  a  brick  roof.  He  has  many  good  books,  but  they 
are  all  lying  in  confusion  and  dust.'  Letters  of  Boswell,  p.  30.  On 
Good  Friday.  1764,  Johnson  made  the  following  entry: — 'I  hope  to 
put  my  rooms  in  order :  Disorder  I  have  found  one  great  cause  of 
idleness.'  On  his  birth-day  in  the  same  year  he  wrote  : — 'To-morrow 
I  purpose  to  regulate  my  room.'     Pr.  and  A  fed.  pp.  50.  60. 

.■^  Ircwctl 


Aetat.54.1  yokusoiis   library.  505 

strewed  with  manuscript  leaves,  in  Johnson's  own  hand- 
writing, which  I  beheld  w  ith  a  degree  of  veneration,  suppos- 
ing they  perhaps  might  contain  portions  of  TJtc  Rambler  or 
of  Rassclas.  I  observed  an  apparatus  for  chymical  experi- 
ments, of  which  Johnson  was  all  his  life  very  fond'.  The 
place  seemed  to  be  very  favourable  for  retirement  and  medi- 
tation. Johnson  told  me,  that  he  went  up  thither  without 
mentioning  it  to  his  servant,  when  he  wanted  to  study, 
secure  from  interruption  ;  for  he  would  not  allow  his  servant 
to  say  he  was  not  at  home  when  he  really  was.  '  A  servant's 
strict  regard  for  truth,  (said  he)  must  be  weakened  b}'  such  a 
practice.  A  philosopher  may  know  that  it  is  merely  a  form 
of  denial;  but  few  servants  are  such  nice  distinguishers.  If 
I  accustom  a  servant  to  tell  a  lie  for  mc,  have  I  not  reason 
to  apprehend  that  he  will  tell  many  lies  for  himself.''  I  am, 
however,  satisfied  that  every  servant,  of  any  degree  of  intelli- 
gence, understands  saying  his  master  is  not  at  home,  not  at 
all  as  the  affirmation  of  a  fact,  but  as  customary  words,  in- 
timating that  his  master  wishes  not  to  be  seen  ;  so  that 
there  can  be  no  bad  effect  from  it. 

Mr.  Temple,  now  vicar  of  St.  Gluvias,  Cornwall*,  who  had 
been  my  intimate  friend  for  many  years,  had  at  this  time 
chambers  in  Farrar's-buildings,  at  the  bottom  of  Inner  Tem- 
ole-lane,  which  he  kindly  lent  me  upon  my  quitting  my 
lodgings,  he  being  to  return  to  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge.     I 


'  See  ante,  p.  161,  and  post,  under  Sept.  9,  1779. 

'  Afterwards  Rector  of  Mamhead,  Devonshire.  He  is  the  grandfa- 
ther of  the  present  Bishop  of  London.  He  and  Boswell  had  been 
fellow-students  at  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  and  seemed  in  youth 
to  have  had  an  equal  amount  of  conceit.  '  Recollect,'  wrote  Boswell, 
'  how  you  and  I  flattered  ourselves  that  we  were  to  be  the  greatest 
men  of  our  age.'  Letters  of  Bosivell,^-^.  159.  They  began  to  correspond 
at  least  as  early  as  1758.  The  last  letter  was  one  from  Boswell  on 
his  death-bed.  Johnson  thus  mentions  Temple  {Works,  v\\\.  ifZo) : — 
'  Gray's  character  I  am  willing  to  adopt,  as  Mr.  Mason  has  done,  from 
a  letter  written  to  my  friend  Mr.  Boswell  by  the  Revd.  Mr.  Temple, 
Rector  of  St.  Gluvias  in  Cornwall :  and  am  as  willing  as  his  warmest 
well-wisher  to  believe  it  true.' 

found 


5o6  CopyrigJu  in  books.  [a.d.  1763. 


found  them  particularly  convenient  for  me,  as  they  were  so 
near  Dr.  Johnson's. 

On  Wednesday,  July  20,  Dr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Dempster,  and 
my  uncle  Dr.  Boswell,  who  happened  to  be  now  in  London, 
supped  with  me  at  these  Chambers.  JOHNSON.  '  Pity  is 
not  natural  to  man.  Children  are  always  cruel.  Savages 
are  always  cruel.  Pity  is  acquired  and  improved  by  the 
cultivation  of  reason.  We  may  have  uneasy  sensations 
from  seeing  a  creature  in  distress,  without  pity ;  for  we  have 
not  pity  unless  we  wish  to  relieve  them.  When  I  am  on  my 
way  to  dine  with  a  friend,  and  finding  it  late,  have  bid  the 
coachman  make  haste,  if  I  happen  to  attend  when  he  whips 
his  horses,  I  may  feel  unpleasantly  that  the  animals  are  put 
to  pain,  but  I  do  not  wish  him  to  desist.  No,  Sir,  I  wish 
him  to  drive  on.' 

Mr.  Alexander  Donaldson,  bookseller  of  Edinburgh,  had 
for  some  time  opened  a  shop  in  London,  and  sold  his  cheap 
editions  of  the  most  popular  English  books,  in  defiance  of  the 
supposed  common-law  right  oi  Literary  Property^ .  Johnson, 
though  he  concurred  in  the  opinion  which  was  afterwards 
sanctioned  by  a  judgement  of  the  House  of  Lords\  that 
there  was  no  such  right,  was  at  this  time  very  angry  that 

'  Johnson  (  Works,  vii.  240)  quotes  the  following  by  Edmund  Smith 
written  some  time  after  1708  : — '  It  will  sound  oddly  to  posterity,  that, 
in  a  polite  nation,  in  an  enlightened  age,  under  the  direction  of  the 
most  wise,  most  learned,  and  most  generous  encouragers  of  knowledge 
in  the  world,  the  property  of  a  mechanick  should  be  better  secured 
than  that  of  a  scholar !  that  the  poorest  manual  operations  should  be 
more  valued  than  the  noblest  products  of  the  brain  !  that  it  should  be 
felony  to  rob  a  cobbler  of  a  pair  of  shoes,  and  no  crime  to  deprive  the 
best  authour  of  his  whole  subsistence !  that  nothing  should  make  a 
man  a  sure  title  to  his  own  writings  but  the  stupidity  of  them  !'  See 
post.  May  8,  1773,  and  Feb.  7,  1774;  and  Boswell's  Ilebrichs,  Aug.  17 
and  20,  1773. 

"  '  The  question  arose,  after  the  passing  of  the  first  statute  respect- 
ing literary  property  in  1710,  whether  by  certain  of  its  provisions  this 
perpetual  copyright  at  common  law  was  extinguished  for  the  future. 
The  question  was  solemnly  argued  before  the  Court  of  King's  Bench, 
v/hen  Lord  Mansfield  presided,  in  1769.     The  result  was  a  decision  in 

the 


Aetat.54.]  Copyright  in  books.  507 

the  Booksellers  of  London,  for  whom  he  uniformly  pro- 
fessed much  regard,  should  suffer  from  an  invasion  of  what 
they  had  ever  considered  to  be  secure :  and  he  was  loud 
and  violent  against  Mr.  Donaldson.  '  He  is  a  fellow  who 
takes  advantage  of  the  law  to  injure  his  brethren  ;  for,  not- 
withstanding that  the  statute  secures  only  fourteen  years 
of  exclusive  right,  it  has  always  been  understood  by  tJic 
tradc\  that  he,  who  buys  the  copyright  of  a  book  from  the 
authour,  obtains  a  perpetual  property;  and  upon  that  belief, 
numberless  bargains  are  made  to  transfer  that  property 
after  the  expiration  of  the  statutory  term.  Now  Donald- 
son, I  say,  takes  advantage  here,  of  people  who  have  really 
an  equitable  title  from  usage ;  and  if  we  consider  how  few 
of  the  books,  of  which  they  buy  the  property,  succeed  so 
well  as  to  bring  profit,  we  should  be  of  opinion  that  the 
term  of  fourteen  years  is  too  short ;  it  should  be  sixty 
years.'      Dempster.    '  Donaldson,  Sir,    is   anxious   for  the 

favour  of  the  common-law  right  as  unaltered  by  the  statute,  with  the 
disapproval  however  of  Mr.  Justice  Yates.  In  1774  the  same  point 
was  brought  before  the  House  of  Lords,  and  the  decision  of  the  court 
below  reversed  by  a  majority  of  si.x  judges  in  eleven,  as  Lord  Mans- 
field, who  adhered  to  the  opinion  of  the  minority,  declined  to  inter- 
fere ;  it  being  very  unusual,  from  motives  of  delicacy,  for  a  peer  to 
support  his  own  judgment  on  appeal  to  the  House  of  Lords.'  Penny 
Cyclo.vVn.  i.  See pos/,  Feb.  7,  1774.  Lord  Shelburne,  on  Feb.  27,  1774, 
humorously  describes  the  scene  in  the  Lords  to  the  Earl  of  Chat- 
ham • — '  Lord  Mansfield  showed  himself  the  merest  Captain  Bobadil 
that,  I  suppose,  ever  existed  in  real  life.  You  can,  perhaps,  imagine  to 
yourself  the  Bishop  of  Carlyle,  an  old  metaphysical  head  of  a  college, 
reading  a  paper,  not  a  speech,  out  of  an  old  sermon  book,  with  very 
bad  sight,  leaning  on  the  table.  Lord  Mansfield  sitting  at  it,  with  eyes 
of  fixed  melancholy  looking  at  him,  knowing  that  the  bishop's  were 
the  only  eyes  in  the  House  who  could  not  meet  his ;  the  judges  be- 
hind him,  full  of  rage  at  being  drawn  into  so  absurd  an  opinion,  and 
abandoned  in  it  by  their  chief;  the  Bishops  waking,  as  your  Lordship 
knows  they  do,  just  before  they  vote,  and  staring  on  finding  some- 
thing the  matter ;  while  Lord  Townshend  was  close  to  the  bar,  getting 
Mr.  Dunning  to  put  up  his  glass  to  look  at  the  head  of  criminal  jus- 
tice.' Chatham  Carres,  iv.  327. 
'  See  post,  April  15,  1778,  note. 

encouragement 


5o8  Htimcs  style.  [a.d.  1763. 

encouragement  of  literature.  He  reduces  the  price  of  books, 
so  that  poor  students  may  buy  them'.'  JOHNSON,  (laughing) 
'  Well,  Sir,  allowing  that  to  be  his  motive,  he  is  no  better 
than  Robin  Hood,  who  robbed  the  rich  in  order  to  give  to 
the  poor.' 

It  is  remarkable,  that  when  the  great  question  concerning 
Literary  Property  came  to  be  ultimately  tried  before  the 
supreme  tribunal  of  this  country,  in  consequence  of  the  very 
spirited  exertions  of  Mr.  Donaldson',  Dr.  Johnson  was  zeal- 
ous against  a  perpetuity;  but  he  thought  that  the  term  of 
the  exclusive  right  of  authours  should  be  considerably  en-. 
larged.     He  was  then  for  granting  a  hundred  years. 

The  conversation  now  turned  upon  Mr.  David  Hume's  style. 
Johnson.  '  Why,  Sir,  his  style  is  not  English  ;  the  struct- 
ure of  his  sentences  is  French\     Now  the  French  structure 


'  Dr.  Franklin  {Memoirs,  iii.  178),  complaining  of  the  high  prices  of 
English  books,  describes  '  the  excessive  artifices  made  use  of  to  puff 
up  a  paper  of  verses  into  a  pamphlet,  a  pamphlet  into  an  octavo,  and 
an  octavo  into  a  quarto  with  white-lines,  exorbitant  margins,  &c.,  to 
such  a  degree  that  the  selling  of  paper  seems  now  the  object,  and 
printing  on  it  only  the  pretence.' 

"^  Boswell  was  on  friendly  terms  with  him.  He  wrote  to  Erskine  on 
Dec.  2,  1 76 1  : — '  I  am  just  now  returned  from  eating  a  most  excellent 
pig  with  the  most  magnificent  Donaldson.'  Boswell  and  Erskine  Cor- 
respondence, p.  20. 

^  Dr.  Carlyle  {Auto.  p.  516)  says  that  Lord  Mansfield  this  year  (1769) 
'  talking  of  Hume  and  Robertson's  Histories,  said  that  though  he  could 
point  out  few  or  no  faults  in  them,  yet,  when  he  was  reading  their 
books,  he  did  not  think  he  was  reading  English."  See  post,  ii.  72,  for 
Hume's  Scotticisms.  Hume  went  to  France  in  1734  when  he  was  23 
years  old  and  stayed  there  three  years.  Wnme's  Autobiography ,  p.vii. 
He  never  mastered  French  colloquially.  Lord  Charlemont,  who  met 
him  in  Turin  in  1748,  says: — 'His  speech  in  English  was  rendered 
ridiculous  by  the  broadest  Scotch  accent,  and  his  French  was,  if  pos- 
sible, still  more  laughable.'  Hardy's  C/iarlemont,  i.  15.  Horace  Wal- 
pole,  who  met  him  in  Paris  in  1765,  writes  {Letters,  iv.  426): — 'Mr. 
Hume  is  the  only  thing  in  the  world  that  they  [the  French]  believe 
implicitly ;  which  they  must  do,  for  I  defy  them  to  understand  any 
language  that  he  speaks.'  Gibbon  {Misc.  Works,  i.  122)  says  of  Hume's 
writings  :— '  Their  careless  inimitable  beauties  often  forced  me  to  close 

and 


Aetat.  54.]  Merit  set  against  fortune.  509 


and  the  English  structure  may,  in  the  nature  of  things,  be 
equally  good.  But  if  you  allow  that  the  English  language 
is  established,  he  is  wrong.  My  name  might  originally  have 
been  Nicholson,  as  well  as  Johnson ;  but  were  you  to  call 
me  Nicholson  now,  you  would  call  me  very  absurdly.' 

Rousseau's  treatise  on  the  inequality  of  mankind'  was  at 
this  time  a  fashionable  topick.  It  gave  rise  to  an  observa- 
tion by  Mr.  Dempster,  that  the  advantages  of  fortune  and 
rank  were  nothing  to  a  wise  man,  who  ought  to  value  only 
merit.  Johnson.  '  If  man  were  a  savage,  living  in  the 
woods  by  himself,  this  might  be  true ;  but  in  civilized  society 
we  all  depend  upon  each  other,  and  our  happiness  is  very 
much  owing  to  the  good  opinion  of  mankind.  Now,  Sir,  in 
civilized  society,  external  advantages  make  us  more  respect- 
ed. A  man  with  a  good  coat  upon  his  back  meets  with  a 
better  reception  than  he  who  has  a  bad  one^  Sir,  you  may 
analyse  this,  and  say  what  is  there  in  it  ?  But  that  will 
avail  you  nothing,  for  it  is  a  part  of  a  general  system. 
Pound  St.  Paul's  Church  into  atoms,  and  consider  any  single 
atom  ;  it  is,  to  be  sure,  good  for  nothing :  but,  put  all  these 
atoms  together,  and  you  have  St.  Paul's  Church.  So  it  is 
with  human  felicity,  which  is  made  up  of  many  ingredients, 
each  of  which  may  be  shewn  to  be  very  insignificant.  In 
civilized  society,  personal  merit  will  not  serve  you  so  much 
as  money  will.     Sir,  you  may  make  the  experiment.     Go 


the  volume  with  a  mixed  sensation  of  delight  and  despair.'  Dr.  Beat- 
tie  {Life,  p.  243)  wrote  on  Jan.  5,  1778: — 'We  who  live  in  Scotland  are 
obliged  to  study  English  from  books,  like  a  dead  language,  which  we 
understand,  but  cannot  speak.'  He  adds  .—'  I  have  spent  some  years 
in  labouring  to  acquire  the  art  of  giving  a  vernacular  cast  to  the  Eng- 
lish we  write.'  Dr.  A.  Carlyle  {Auto.  p.  222)  says  : — '  Since  we  began 
to  aflfect  speaking  a  foreign  language,  which  the  English  dialect  is  to 
us.  humour,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  less  apparent  in  con\-ersation.' 

'  Discours  sur  rorigine  et  les  fondeniens  de  Vincgalitc  parmi  Ics 
]iP))imcs,  1754. 

'■'  ■  I  have  indeed  myself  observed  that  my  banker  ever  bows  lowest 
to  me  when  I  wear  my  full-bottomed  wig,  and  writes  me  Mr.  or  Esq., 
accordingly  as  he  sees  me  dressed.'     Spectator,  No.  150. 

into 


5IO  The  7(se  of  mojiey.  [a.d.  1763. 

into  the  street,  and  give  one  man  a  lecture  on  morality,  and 
another  a  shilling,  and  see  which  will  respect  you  most.  If 
you  wish  only  to  support  nature.  Sir  William  Petty  fixes 
your  allowance  at  three  pounds  a  year' ;  but  as  times  are 
much  altered,  let  us  call  it  six  pounds.  This  sum  will  fill 
your  belly,  shelter  you  from  the  weather,  and  even  get  you 
a  strong  lasting  coat,  supposing  it  to  be  made  of  good  bull's 
hide.  Now,  Sir,  all  beyond  this  is  artificial,  and  is  desired 
in  order  to  obtain  a  greater  degree  of  respect  from  our 
fellow-creatures.  And,  Sir,  if  six  hundred  pounds  a  year 
procure  a  man  more  consequence,  and,  of  course,  more  happi- 
ness than  six  pounds  a  year,  the  same  proportion  will  hold 
as  to  six  thousand,  and  so  on  as  far  as  opulence  can  be 
carried.  Perhaps  he  who  has  a  large  fortune  may  not  be  so 
happy  as  he  who  has  a  small  one  ;  but  that  must  proceed 
from  other  causes  than  from  his  having  the  large  fortune :  for, 
ccEtcris  parilms,  he  who  is  rich  in  a  civilized  society,  must  be 
happier  then  he  who  is  poor ;  as  riches,  if  properly  used, 
(and  it  is  a  man's  own  fault  if  they  are  not,)  must  be  pro- 
ductive of  the  highest  advantages.  Money,  to  be  sure,  of 
itself  is  of  no  use ;  for  its  only  use  is  to  part  with  it.  Rous- 
seau, and  all  those  who  deal  in  paradoxes,  are  led  away  by 
a  childish  desire  of  novelty^  When  I  was  a  boy,  I  used 
always  to  choose  the  wrong  side  of  a  debate,  because  most 

'  Mr.  Croker,  quoting  Mr.  Wright,  says  : — '  See  his  Qiiantulumanque 
(sic)  concerm'ftg  Mo7iey!  I  have  read  Patty's  Quantulumcungue,  but 
do  not  find  the  passage  in  it. 

*  Johnson  told  Dr.  Burney  that  Goldsmith  said,  when  he  first  began 
to  write,  he  determined  to  commit  to  paper  nothing  but  what  was 
ne7u;  but  he  afterwards  found  that  what  was  fi£u>  was  false,  and  from 
that  time  was  no  longer  solicitous  about  novelty.  BuRNEV.  Mr. 
Forster  (Life  of  Goldsmtt/i,  i.  421)  says  that  this  note  '  is  another  in- 
stance of  the  many  various  and  doubtful  forms  in  which  stories  about 
Johnson  and  Goldsmith  are  apt  to  appear  when  once  we  lose  sight  of 
the  trustworthy  Boswell.  This  is  obviously  a  mere  confused  recollec- 
tion of  what  is  correctly  told  by  Boswell  [post,  March  26,  1779].' 
There  is  much  truth  in  Mr.  Forster's  general  remark :  nevertheless 
Burney  likely  enough  repeated  to  the  best  of  his  memory  what  he  had 
himself  heard  from  Johnson. 

ingenious 


Aetat.w.j  The  'advantages'  of  poverty.  511 

ingenious  things,  that  is  to  say,  most  new  things,  could  be 
said  upon  it.  Sir,  there  is  nothing  for  which  you  may  not 
muster  up  more  plausible  arguments,  than  those  which  are 
urged  against  wealth  and  other  external  advantages.  Why, 
now,  there  is  stealing;  why  should  it  be  thought  a  crime? 
When  we  consider  by  what  unjust  methods  property  has 
been  often  acquired,  and  that  what  was  unjustly  got  it  must 
be  unjust  to  keep,  where  is  the  harm  in  one  man's  taking  the 
property  of  another  from  him  ?  Besides,  Sir,  when  we  con- 
sider the  bad  use  that  many  people  make  of  their  property, 
and  liow  much  better  use  the  thief  may  make  of  it,  it  may 
be  defended  as  a  very  allowable  practice.  Yet,  Sir,  the  ex- 
perience of  mankind  has  discovered  stealing  to  be  so  very 
bad  a  thing,  that  they  make  no  scruple  to  hang  a  man  for  it. 
When  I  was  running  about  this  town  a  very  poor  fellow,  I 
was  a  great  arguer  for  the  advantages  of  poverty  ;  but  I  was, 
at  the  same  time,  very  sorry  to  be  poor.  Sir,  all  the  argu- 
ments which  are  brought  to  represent  poverty  as  no  evil,  shew 
it  to  be  evidently  a  great  evil.  You  never  find  people  la- 
bouring to  convince  you  that  you  may  live  very  happily 
upon  a  plentiful  fortune. — So  you  hear  people  talking  how 
miserable  a  King  must  be  ;  and  yet  they  all  w^ish  to  be  in  his 
place'.' 

It  was  suggested  that  Kings  must  be  unhappy,  because 
they  are  deprived  of  the  greatest  of  all  satisfactions,  easy 
and  unreserved  society.  JOHNSON.  'That  is  an  ill-founded 
notion.  Being  a  King  does  not  exclude  a  man  from  such 
societ)'.  Great  Kings  have  always  been  social.  The  King 
of  Prussia,  the  only  great  King  at  present,  is  very  social'. 

*  'Their  [the  ancient  moralists']  arguments  have  been,  indeed,  so 
unsuccessful,  that  I  know  not  whether  it  can  be  shewn,  that  by  all  the 
wit  and  reason  which  this  favourite  cause  has  called  forth  a  single 
convert  was  ever  made ;  that  even  one  man  has  refused  to  be  rich, 
when  to  be  rich  was  in  his  power,  from  the  conviction  of  the  greater 
happiness  of  a  narrow  fortune.'  Johnson's  Works,  ii.  278.  See  post, 
June  3,  1781,  and  June  3,  Sept.  7,  and  Dec.  7,  1782. 

*  Johnson  (  Works,  vi.  440)  shows  how  much  Frederick  owed  to  '  the 
difficulties  of  his  youth.'     '  Kings,  without  this  help  from  temporary 

Charles 


512  Disiinctioii  of  rank.  [a.d.  1763. 

Charles  the  Second,  the  last  King  of  England  who  was  a  man 
of  parts,  was  social;  and  our  Henrys  and  Edwards  were  all 
social.' 

Mr.  Dempster  having  endeavoured  to  maintain  that  in- 
trinsick  merit  ouglit  to  make  the  only  distinction  amongst 
mankind.  JOHNSON.  '  Why,  Sir,  mankind  have  found  that 
this  cannot  be.  How  shall  we  determine  the  proportion 
of  intrinsick  merit  ?  Were  that  to  be  the  only  distinction 
amongst  mankind,  we  should  soon  quarrel  about  the  degrees 
of  it.  Were  all  distinctions  abolished,  the  strongest  would 
not  long  acquiesce,  but  would  endeavour  to  obtain  a  superi- 
ority by  their  bodily  strength.  But,  Sir,  as  subordination  is 
very  necessary  for  society,  and  contensions  for  superiority 
very  dangerous,  mankind,  that  is  to  say,  all  civilized  nations, 
have  settled  it  upon  a  plain  invariable  principle.  A  man 
is  born  to  hereditary  rank ;  or  his  being  appointed  to  cer- 
tain offices,  gives  him  a  certain  rank.  Subordination  tends 
greatly  to  human  happiness.  Were  we  all  upon  an  equal- 
ity, wc  should  have  no  other  enjoym.ent  than  mere  animal 
pleasure'.' 

I  said,  I  considered  distinction  of  rank  to  be  of  so  much 
importance  in  civilised  society,  that  if  I  were  asked  on  the 
same  day  to  dine  with  the  first  Duke  in  England,  and  with 
the  first  man  in  Britain  for  genius,  I  should  hesitate  which 
to  prefer.  JOHNSON.  'To  be  sure.  Sir,  if  you  were  to  dine 
only  once,  and  it  were  never  to  be  known  where  you  dined, 
you   would   choose   rather   to   dine  with  the   first  man  for 

infelicity,  see  the  wo-rld  in  a  mist,  which  niagnifies  everything  near 
them,  and  bounds  their  view  to  a  narrow  compass,  which  few  are  able 
to  extend  by  the  mere  force  of  curiosity.'  He  next  points  out  what 
Cromwell  '  owed  to  the  private  condition  in  which  he  first  entered  the 
world  ;'  and  continues  : — '  The  King  of  Prussia  brought  to  the  throne 
the  knowledge  of  a  private  man,  without  the  guilt  of  usurpation.  Of 
this  general  acquaintance  with  the  world  there  may  be  found  son?e 
traces  in  his  whole  life.  His  conversation  is  like  that  of  other  men 
upon  common  topicks,  his  letters  have  an  air  of  familiar  elegance,  and 
his  whole  conduct  is  that  of  a  man  who  has  to  do  with  men.' 
'  See  ante,  p.  472. 

genius ; 


Aetat.  54.]  yoJinsoris  respect  for  rank.  5 1 3 

genius  ;  but  to  gain  most  respect,  you  should  dine  with  the 
first  Duke  in  England.  For  nine  people  in  ten  that  you 
meet  with,  would  have  a  higher  opinion  of  you  for  having 
dined  with  a  Duke  ;  and  the  great  genius  himself  would  re- 
ceive you  better,  because  you  had  been  with  the  great  Duke.' 

He  took  care  to  guard  himself  against  any  possible  sus- 
picion that  his  settled  principles  of  reverence  for  rank  and 
respect  for  wealth  were  at  all  owing  to  mean  or  interested 
motives ;  for  he  asserted  his  own  independence  as  a  literary 
man.  '  No  man  (said  he)  who  ever  lived  by  literature,  has 
lived  more  independently  than  I  have  done.'  He  said  he 
had  taken  longer  time  than  he  needed  to  have  done  in  com- 
posing his  Dictionary.  He  received  our  compliments  upon 
that  great  work  with  complacency,  and  told  us  that  the 
Academy  dclla  Crzisca^  could  scarcely  believe  that  it  was 
done  by  one  man. 

Next  morning  I  found  him  alone,  and  have  preserved  the 
following  fragments  of  his  conversation.  Of  a  gentleman* 
who  was  mentioned,  he  said,  '  I  have  not  met  with  any  man 
for  a  long  time  who  has  given  me  such  general  displeasure. 
He  is  totally  unfixed  in  his  principles,  and  wants  to  puzzle 
other  people.'  I  said  his  principles  had  been  poisoned  by  a 
noted  infidel  writer,  but  that  he  was,  nevertheless,  a  benevo- 
lent good  man.  JOHNSON.  '  We  can  have  no  dependance 
upon  that  instinctive,  that  constitutional  goodness  which  is 
not  founded  upon  principle.  I  grant  you  that  such  a  man 
may  be  a  very  amiable  member  of  society.     I  can  conceive 


'  See  atite,  p.  345. 

"  That  this  was  Mr.  Dempster  seems  likely  from  the  Letters  of  Bos- 
well  (p.  34).  -.vhere  Boswell  says : — '  I  had  prodigious  satisfaction  to 
find  Dempster's  sophistry  (which  he  has  learnt  from  Hume  and  Rous- 
seau) vanquished  by  the  solid  sense  and  vigorous  reasoning  of  Johnson. 
Dempster,'  he  continues, '  was  as  happy  as  a  vanquished  argumentator 
could  be.'  The  character  of  the  'benevolent  good  man  '  suits  Demp- 
ster is^Q.  post,  under  Feb.  7,  1775,  where  Boswell  calls  him  '  the  virtuous 
and  candid  Dempster'),  while  that  of  the  'noted  infidel  writer'  suits 
Hume.  We  find  Boswell,  Johnson,  and  Dempster  again  dining  to- 
gether on  May  9,  1772. 

I.— 33  him 


514  Sceptical  innovators.  [a.d.  1763. 

him  placed  in  such  a  situation  that  he  is  not  much  tempted 
to  deviate  from  what  is  right ;  and  as  every  man  prefers  vir- 
tue, when  there  is  not  some  strong  incitement  to  transgress 
its  precepts,  I  can  conceive  him  doing  nothing  wrong.  But 
if  such  a  man  stood  in  need  of  money,  I  should  not  h'kc  to 
trust  him  ;  and  I  should  certainly  not  trust  him  with  )-oung 
ladies,  for  there  there  is  alwaj's  temptation.  Hume,  and 
other  sceptical  innovators,  are  vain  men,  and  will  gratify 
themselves  at  any  expence.  Truth  will  not  afford  sufificient 
food  to  their  vanity ;  so  they  have  betaken  themselves  to 
errour.  Truth,  Sir,  is  a  cow  which  will  yield  such  people  no 
more  milk,  and  so  they  are  gone  to  milk  the  bull'.  If  I  could 
have  allowed  myself  to  gratify  my  vanit)-  at  the  expence  of 
truth,  what  fame  might  I  have  acquired.  Every  thing  which 
Hume  has  advanced  against  Christianity  had  passed  through 
my  mind  long  before  he  wrote.  Always  remember  this,  that 
after  a  system  is  well  settled  upon  positive  evidence,  a  few 
partial  objections  ought  not  to  shake  it.  The  human  mind 
is  so  limited,  that  it  cannot  take  in  all  the  parts  of  a  sub- 
ject, so  that  there  may  be  objections  raised  against  any 
thing.  There  are  objections  against  a  plenum,  and  objections 
against  a  vacinan ;  yet  one  of  them  must  certainly  be  true\' 
I  mentioned  Hume's  argument  against  the  belief  of  mir- 
acles, that   it   is  more  probable  that  the   witnesses  to  the 

*  '  Thou  wilt  at  best  but  suck  a  bull, 

Or  sheer  swine,  all  cry  and  no  wool.' 

Hudihras,  Part  i.  Canto  i.  1.  851. 
Dr.  Z.  Grey,  in  his  note  on  these  lines,  quotes  the  proverbial  saying 
'As  wise  as  the  Waltham  calf  that  went  nine  times  to  suck  a  bull.' 
He  quotes  also  from  The  Spectator,  No.  138,  the  passage  where  the 
Cynic  said  of  two  disputants,  '  One  of  these  fellows  is  milking  a  ram. 
and  the  other  holds  the  pail.' 

^  The  writer  of  the  article  Vacuum  in  the  Penny  Cycio.  (xxvi.  76), 
quoting  Johnson's  words,  adds  : — '  That  is,  either  all  space  is  full  of 
matter,  or  there  are  parts  of  space  which  have  no  matter.  The  alter- 
native is  undeniable,  and  the  inference  to  which  the  modem  philoso- 
phy would  give  the  greatest  probability  is,  that  all  space  is  full  of 
matter  in  the  common  sense  of  the  word,  but  really  occupied  by  par- 
ticles of  matter  with  vacuous  interstices.' 

truth 


Aetat.  54.]  The  proofs  of  Christianity.  5 1 5 

truth  of  them  are  mistaken,  or  speak  falsely,  than  that  the  mir- 
acles should  be  true'.  JOHNSOX.  '  Why,  Sir,  the  great  difiFi- 
culty  of  proving  miracles  should  make  us  very  cautious  in  be- 
lieving them.  But  let  us  consider ;  although  GOD  has  made 
Nature  to  operate  by  certain  fixed  laws,  yet  it  is  not  unrea- 
sonable to  think  that  he  may  suspend  those  laws,  in  order  to 
establish  a  system  highly  advantageous  to  mankind.  Now 
the  Christian  religion  is  a  most  beneficial  system,  as  it  gives 
us  light  and  certainty  where  w^e  were  before  in  darkness  and 
doubt.  The  miracles  which  prove  it  are  attested  by  men  who 
had  no  interest  in  deceiving  us  ;  but  who,  on  the  contrary, 
were  told  that  they  should  suffer  persecution,  and  did  actu- 
ally lay  down  their  lives  in  confirmation  of  the  truth  of  the 
facts  which  they  asserted.  Indeed,  for  some  centuries  the 
heathens  did  not  pretend  to  deny  the  miracles ;  but  said  they 
were  performed  by  the  aid  of  evil  spirits.  This  is  a  circum- 
stance of  great  weight.  Then,  Sir,  when  we  take  the  proofs 
derived  from  prophecies  which  have  been  so  exactly  fulfilled, 
we  have  most  satisfactory  evidence.  Supposing  a  miracle 
possible,  as  to  which,  in  my  opinion,  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
we  have  as  strong  evidence  for  the  miracles  in  support  of 
Christianity,  as  the  nature  of  the  thing  admits.' 

At  night  Mr.  Johnson  and  I  supped  in  a  private  room  at 
the  Turk's  Head  coffee-house,  in  the  Strand\  '  I  encourage 
this  house  (said  he ;)  for  the  mistress  of  it  is  a  good  civil 
woman,  and  has  not  much  business.' 

'  Sir,  I  love  the  acquaintance  of  young  people  ;  because,  in 
the  first  place,  I  don't  like  to  think  myself  growing  old.  In 
the  next  place,  young  acquaintances  must  last  longest,  if  they 
do  last;  and  then.  Sir,  young  men  have  more  virtue  than  old 

'  '  When  any  one  tells  me  that  he  saw  a  dead  man  restored  to  life, 
/  immediately  consider  with  myself,  whether  it  be  more  probable  that 
this  p>erson  should  either  deceive  or  be  deceived,  or  that  the  fact  which 
he  relates  should  really  have  happened.'  Hume's  Essay  on  Miracles, 
Paxt  i.  Se&  post,  Sept.  22,  1777,  where  Boswell  again  quotes  this  pas- 
sage. 

'  A  coffee-house  over  against  Catherine  Street,  now  the  site  of  a 
tourists'  ticket  office.     Atheticeitm,  No.  3041. 

men  . 


5 1 6         yohnsons  recollection  of  early  years,   [a.d.  1763. 

men  ;  they  have  more  generous  sentiments  in  every  respect'. 
I  love  the  young  dogs  of  this  age :  they  have  more  wit  and 
humour  and  knowledge  of  life  than  we  had  ;  but  then  the 
dogs  are  not  so  good  scholars.  Sir,  in  my  early  years  I  read 
very  hard.  It  is  a  sad  reflection,  but  a  true  one,  that  I  knew 
almost  as  much  at  eighteen  as  I  do  now\  My  judgement,  to 
be  sure,  was  not  so  good ;  but  I  had  all  the  facts.  I  remem- 
ber very  well,  when  I  was  at  Oxford,  an  old  gentleman  said 
to  me,  "  Young  man,  ply  your  book  diligently  now,  and  ac- 
quire a  stock  of  knowledge;  for  when  years  come  upon  you, 
you  will  find  that  poring  upon  books  will  be  but  an  irksome 
task.' " 

This  account  of  his  reading,  given  by  himself  in  plain 
words,  sufficiently  confirms  what  I  have  already  advanced 
upon  the  disputed  question  as  to  his  application.  It  recon- 
ciles any  seeming  inconsistency  in  his  way  of  talking  upon  it 
at  different  times ;  and  shews  that  idleness  and  reading  hard 
were  with  him  relative  terms,  the  import  of  which,  as  used 
by  him,  must  be  gathered  from  a  comparison  with  what 
scholars  of  different  degrees  of  ardour  and  assiduity  have 
\y  been  known  to  do.  And  let  it  be  remembered,  that  he  was 
now  talking  spontaneously,  and  expressing  his  genuine  sen- 
timents ;  whereas  at  other  times  he  might  be  induced  from 
his  spirit  of  contradiction,  or  more  properly  from  his  love  of 
argumentative  contest,  to  speak  lightly  of  his  own  application 


'  Stockdale  records  {Memoirs,  i.  202)  that  Johnson  once  said  to  him: 
— '  Whenever  it  is  the  duty  of  a  young  and  old  man  to  act  at  the  same 
time  with  a  spirit  of  independence  and  generosity ;  we  may  always 
have  reason  to  hope  that  the  young  man  will  ardently  perform,  and 
to  fear  that  the  old  man  will  desert,  his  duty.' 

*  Boswell  thus  writes  of  this  evening  : — '  I  learn  more  from  him  than 
from  any  man  I  ever  was  with.  He  told  me  a  very  odd  thing,  that  he 
knew  at  eighteen  as  much  as  he  does  now ;  that  is  to  say,  his  judge- 
ment is  much  stronger,  but  he  had  then  stored  up  almost  all  the  facts 
he  has  now,  and  he  says  that  he  has  led  but  an  idle  life ;  only  think. 
Temple,  of  that !'  Letters  of  Boswell,  p.  34.  See  ante,  p.  65,  and  post, 
ii.  41.  He  told  Windham  in  1784  'that  he  read  Latin  with  as  much 
ease  when  he  went  to  college  as  at  present.'    Windham's  Diary,  p.  17. 

to 


Aetat.  54.]  Remedies  for  melancholy.  5 1 7 

to  study.  It  is  pleasing  to  consider  that  the  old  gentleman's 
gloomy  prophecy  as  to  the  irksomeness  of  books  to  men  c»f 
an  advanced  age,  which  is  too  often  fulfilled,  was  so  far  from 
being  verified  in  Johnson,  that  his  ardour  for  literature  never 
failed,  and  his  last  writings  had  more  ease  and  vivacity  than 
any  of  his  earlier  productions. 

He  mentioned  to  me  now,  for  the  first  time,  that  he  had 
been  distrest  by  melancholy,  and  for  that  reason  had  been 
obliged  to  fly  from  study  and  meditation,  to  the  dissipating 
variety  of  life.  Against  melancholy  he  recommended  con- 
stant occupation  of  mind,  a  great  deal  of  exercise,  modera- 
tion in  eating  and  drinking,  and  especially  to  shun  drinking 
at  night.  He  said  melancholy  people  were  apt  to  fly  to  in- 
temperance for  relief,  but  that  it  sunk  them  much  deeper  in 
misery'.  He  observed,  that  labouring  men  who  work  hard, 
and  live  sparingly,  are  seldom  or  never  troubled  with  low 
spirits. 

He  again  insisted  on  the  duty  of  maintaining  subordina- 
tion of  rank.     '  Sir,  I  would  no  more  deprive  a  nobleman  of 


'  Johnson  in  1739  wrote  of  'those  distempers  and  depressions,  from 
which  students,  not  well  acquainted  with  the  constitution  of  the  hu- 
man body,  sometimes  fly  for  relief  to  wine  instead  of  exercise,  and 
purchase  temporary  ease,  by  the  hazard  of  the  most  dreadful  conse- 
quences.' Works,  vi.  271.  In  The  Rambler,  No.  85,  he  says  : — '  How 
much  happiness  is  gained,  and  how  much  misery  is  escaped,  by  fre- 
quent and  violent  agitation  of  the  body.'  Boswell  records  {Hebrides, 
Sept.  24,  1773) : — '  Dr.  Johnson  told  us  at  breakfast,  that  he  rode  harder 
at  a  fox-chace  than  anybody.'  Mrs.  Piozzi  {Anec.  p.  206)  says  : — '  He 
certainly  rode  on  Mr.  Thrale's  old  hunter  with  a  good  firmness,  and. 
though  he  would  follow  the  hounds  fifty  miles  an  end  sometimes, 
would  never  own  himself  either  tired  or  amused.  I  think  no  praise 
ever  went  so  close  to  his  heart,  as  when  Mr.  Hamilton  called  out  one 
day  upon  Brighthelmstone  Downs,  "  Why  Johnson  rides  as  well,  for 
aught  I  see,  as  the  most  illiterate  fellow  in  England."  '  He  wrote  to 
Mrs.  Thrale  in  1777  : — '  No  season  ever  was  finer.  Barley,  malt,  beer 
and  money.  There  is  the  series  of  ideas.  The  deep  logicians  call  it 
a  sorites.  I  hope  my  master  will  710  longer  endure  the  reproach  of  not 
keeping  me  a  horse.'  Piozzi  Letters,  i.  360.  See  post,  March  19  and  28, 
1776,  Sept.  20,  1777,  and  Nov.  21,  1778. 

his 


5i8  Mrs.  Macaulays  footman.  [a.d.  1768. 

his  respect,  than  of  his  money.  I  consider  myself  as  acting 
a  part  in  the  great  system  of  society,  and  I  do  to  others  as  I 
would  have  them  to  do  to  mc.  I  would  behave  to  a  noble- 
man as  I  should  expect  he  would  behave  to  me,  were  I  a 
nobleman  and  he  Sam.  Johnson.  Sir,  there  is  one  Mrs.  Ma- 
caulay'  in  this  town,  a  great  republican.  One  day  when  I 
was  at  her  house,  I  put  on  a  very  grave  countenance,  and 
said  to  her,  "  Madam,  I  am  now  become  a  convert  to  your 
way  of  thinking.  I  am  convinced  that  all  mankind  are  upon 
an  equal  footing ;  and  to  give  you  an  unquestionable  proof, 
Madam,  that  I  am  in  earnest,  here  is  a  very  sensible,  civil, 
well-behaved  fellow-citizen,  your  footman  ;  I  desire  that  he 
may  be  allowed  to  sit  down  and  dine  with  us'"."  I  thus,  Sir, 
shewed  her  the  absurdity  of  the  levelling  doctrine.  She  has 
never  liked  me  since.  Sir,  your  levellers  wish  to  level  down 
as  far  as  themselves ;  but  they  cannot  bear  levelling  up  to 
themselves.  They  would  all  have  some  people  under  them  ; 
why  not  then  have  some  people  above  them  ?'  I  mentioned 
a  certain  authour  who  disgusted  me  by  his  forwardness,  and 
by  shewing  no  deference  to  noblemen  into  whose  company 
he  was  admitted.  JoilNSOX.  'Suppose  a  shoemaker  should 
claim  an  equality  with  him,  as  he  does  with  a  Lord  ;  how  he 
would  stare.  "  Why,  Sir,  do  you  stare?  (says  the  shoemaker,) 
I  do  great  service  to  society.  'Tis  true  I  am  paid  for  doing 
it  ;  but  so  are  you,  Sir:  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  it,  paid  better 


'  This  one  Mrs.  Macaulay  was  the  same  personage  who  afterwards 
made  herself  so  much  known  as  'the  celebrated  female  historian.' 
BoswELL.  Hannah  More  (Memoirs,  i.  234)  tells  the  following  story 
of  Mrs.  Macaulays  daughter: — '  Desirous  from  civility  to  take  some 
notice  of  her,  and  finding  she  was  reading  Shakespeare,  I  asked  her  if 
she  was  not  delighted  with  many  parts  of  King  John.  "  I  never  read 
the  Kings,  ma'am,"  was  the  truly  characteristic  reply.'  See  post, 
April  13,  1773,  and  May  15,  1776. 

°  This  speech  was  perhaps  suggested  to  Johnson  by  the  following 
passage  in  The  Govertinient  of  the  Tongue  (p.  106) — a  book  which  he 
quotes  in  his  Dictionary : — '  Lycurgus  once  said  to  one  who  impor- 
tuned him  to  establish  a  popular  parity  in  the  state,  "  Do  thou,"  says 
he,  "  begin  it  first  in  thine  own  family." ' 

than 


Aetat.54.]  Dr.  Joseph  Warton.  519 

than  I  am,  for  doing  something  not  so  necessary.  For  man- 
kind could  do  better  without  your  books,  than  without  my 
shoes."  Thus,  Sir,  there  would  be  a  perpetual  struggle  for 
precedence,  were  there  no  fixed  invariable  rules  for  the  dis- 
tinction of  rank,  which  creates  no  jealousy,  as  it  is  allowed  to 
be  accidental.' 

He  said,  Dr.  Joseph  Warton  was  a  very  agreeable  man,  and 
his  Essay  on  tJie  Genius  and  Writings  of  Pope,  a  very  pleasing 
book.  I  wondered  that  he  delayed  so  long  to  give  us  the 
continuation  of  it'.  JOHNSON.  '  Why,  Sir,  I  suppose  he  finds 
himself  a  little  disappointed,  in  not  having  been  able  to  per- 
suade the  world  to  be  of  his  opinion  as  to  Pope.' 

We  have  now  been  favoured  with  the  concluding  volume, 
in  which,  to  use  a  parliamentary  expression,  he  has  explained, 
so  as  not  to  appear  quite  so  adverse  to  the  opinion  of  the 
world,  concerning  Pope,  as  was  at  first  thought";  and  we 
must  all  agree  that  his  work  is  a  most  valuable  accession  to 
English  literature. 

A  writer  of  deserved  eminence"*  being  mentioned,  Johnson 


'  The  first  volume  was  published  in  1756,  the  second  in  1782. 

"  Warton,  to  use  his  own  words,  'did  not  think  Pope  at  the  head  of 
his  profession.  In  other  words,  in  that  species  of  poetry  wherein 
Pope  excelled,  he  is  superior  to  all  mankind  ;  and  I  only  say  that  this 
species  of  poetry  is  not  the  most  excellent  one  of  the  art.'  He  dis- 
poses the  English  poets  in  four  classes,  placing  in  the  first  only  Spen- 
ser, Shakespeare,  and  Milton.  '  In  the  second  class  should  be  ranked 
such  as  possessed  the  true  poetical  genius  in  a  more  moderate  degree, 
but  who  had  noble  talents  for  moral,  ethical,  and  panegyrical  poetry.' 
In  this  class,  in  his  concluding  volume,  he  says,  'we  may  venture  to 
assign  Pope  a  place,  just  above  Dryden.  Yet,  to  bring  our  minds 
steadily  to  make  this  decision,  we  must  forget,  for  a  moment,  the 
divine  Mtcsic  Ode  of  Dryden  ;  and  may,  perhaps,  then  be  compelled  to 
confess  that  though  Dryden  be  the  greater  genius,  yet  Pope  is  the 
better  artist."  Warton's  Essay,  i.  i,  vii.  and  ii.  404.  See  post,  March  31, 
1772. 

^  Mr.  Croker  believes  Joseph  Warton  was  meant.  His  father,  how- 
ever, had  been  Fellow  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  and  was  after- 
wards Vicar  of  Basingstroke  and  Cobham,  and  Professor  of  Poetry  in 
his  own  University,  so  that  the  sou  could  scarcely  be  described  as 

said. 


520  Sir  James  Macdonald.  [a.d.  17«8. 

said,  '  Why,  Sir,  he  is  a  man  of  good  parts,  but  being  origi- 
nally poor,  he  has  got  a  love  of  mean  company  and  low  joe-, 
ularity ;  a  very  bad  thing.  Sir.  To  laugh  is  good,  as  to  talk 
is  good.  But  you  ought  no  more  to  think  it  enough  if  you 
laugh,  than  }'ou  are  to  think  it  enough  if  you  talk.  You 
may  laugh  in  as  many  ways  as  you  talk  ;  and  surely  every 
way  of  talking  that  is  practised  cannot  be  esteemed.' 

I  spoke  of  Sir  James  Macdonald'  as  a  young  man  of  most 
distinguished  merit,  who  united  the  highest  reputation  at 
Eaton  and  Oxford,  with  the  patriarchal  spirit  of  a  great 
Highland  Chieftain.  1  mentioned  that  Sir  James  had  said 
to  me,  that  he  had  never  seen  Mr.  Johnson,  but  he  had  a 


being  'originally  poor.'  It  is,  no  doubt,  after  Boswell's  fashion  to  in- 
troduce in  consecutive  paragraphs  the  same  person  once  by  name 
and  once  anonymously;  but  then  the  'certain  author  who  disgusted 
Boswell  by  his  forwardness,'  mentioned  just  before  Warton,  may  be 
Warton  himself. 

■  '  When  he  arrived  at  Eton  he  could  not  make  a  verse ;  that  is,  he 
wanted  a  point  indispensable  with  us  to  a  certain  rank  in  our  system. 
But  this  wonderful  boy,  having  satisfied  the  Master  [Dr.  Barnard] 
that  he  was  an  admirable  scholar,  and  possessed  of  genius,  was  at 
once  placed  at  the  head  of  a  form.  He  acquired  the  rules  of  Latin 
verse ;  tried  his  powers ;  and  perceiving  that  he  could  not  rise  above 
his  rivals  in  Virgil,  Ovid,  or  the  lyric  of  Horace,  he  took  up  the  ser- 
vi07ii propiora,  and  there  overshadowed  all  competitors.  In  the  fol- 
lowing lines  he  describes  the  hammer  of  the  auctioneer  with  a  mock 
sublimity  which  turns  Horace  into  Virgil : — 

'Jam-jamque  cadit,  celerique  recursu 
Erigitur,  lapsum  retrahens,  perque  aera  nutat.' 

Nichols's  Lit.  Anec.  viii.  547. 
Horace  Walpole  wrote  of  him  in  Sept.  1765  {^Letters,  iv.  41 1) : — '  He  is 
a  very  extraordinary  young  man  for  variety  of  learning.  He  is  rather 
too  wise  for  his  age,  and  too  fond  of  showing  it ;  but  when  he  has 
seen  more  of  the  world,  he  will  choose  to  know  less.'  He  died  at 
Rome  in  the  following  year.  Hume,  on  hearing  the  news,  wrote  to 
Adam  Smith:  —  'Were  you  and  I  together,  dear  Smith,  we  should 
shed  tears  at  present  for  the  death  of  poor  Sir  James  Macdonald. 
We  could  not  possibly  have  suffered  a  greater  loss  than  in  that  valu- 
able young  man.'  J.  H.  Burton's  Hnini\  ii.  349.  See  Boswell's  Heb- 
rides, Sept.  5,  1773. 

threat 


Aetat.54.]  MartiiLs  Western  Isles.  521 

great  respect  for  him,  though  at  the  same  time  it  was  mixed 
with  some  degree  of  terrour'.  JOHNSON.  '  Sir,  if  he  were 
to  be  acquainted  with  me,  it  might  lessen  both.' 

The  mention  of  this  gentleman  led  us  to  talk  of  the  West- 
ern Islands  of  Scotland,  to  visit  which  he  expressed  a  wish 
that  then  appeared  to  me  a  very  romantick  fancy,  which  I 
little  thought  would  be  afterwards  realised'^  He  told  me, 
that  his  father  had  put  Martin's  account  of  those  islands  into 
his  hands  when  he  was  very  young,  and  that  he  was  high- 
ly pleased  with  it ;  that  he  was  particularly  struck  with  the 
St.  Kilda  man's  notion  that  the  high  church  of  Glasgow  had 
been  hollowed  out  of  a  rock' ;  a  circumstance  to  which  old 

'  Boswell  says  that  Macdonald  had  for  Johnson  "■^  great  terrour.' 
{Boswellia7ia,  p.  216.)  Northcote  {Life  of  Reynolds,  i.  329)  says: — '  It 
is  a  fact  that  a  certain  nobleman,  an  intimate  friend  of  Reynolds,  had 
strangely  conceived  in  his  mind  such  a  formidable  idea  of  all  those 
persons  who  had  gained  great  fame  as  literary  characters,  that  I  have 
heard  Sir  Joshua  say,  he  verily  believed  he  could  no  more  have  pre- 
vailed upon  this  noble  person  to  dine  at  the  same  table  with  Johnson 
and  Goldsmith  than  with  two  tigers.'  According  to  Mr.  Seward  {Bio- 
graphiana,  p.  600),  Mrs.  Cotterell  having  one  day  asked  Dr.  Johnson 
to  introduce  her  to  a  celebrated  writer,  '  Dearest  madam,'  said  he, 
'  you  had  better  let  it  alone ;  the  best  part  of  every  author  is  in  gen- 
eral to  be  found  in  his  book,  I  assure  you.'  Mr.  Seward  refers  to  The 
Rambler,  No.  14,  where  Johnson  says  that  'there  has  often  been  ob- 
served a  manifest  and  striking  contrariety  between  the  life  of  an 
authour  and  his  writings.' 

^  See  post,  Jan.  19,  1775.  In  his  Hebrides  (p.  i)  Boswell  writes: — 
'  When  I  was  at  Ferney,  in  1764,  I  mentioned  our  design  to  Voltaire. 
He  looked  at  me  as  if  I  had  talked  of  going  to  the  North  Pole,  and 
said,  "You  do  not  insist  on  my  accompanying  you .''"  "No,  Sir." 
"Then  I  am  very  willing  you  should  go."  ' 

^  '  When  he  went  through  the  streets  he  desired  to  have  one  to 
lead  him  by  the  hand.  They  asked  his  opinion  of  the  high  church. 
He  answered  that  it  was  a  large  rock,  yet  there  were  some  in  St. 
Kilda  much  higher,  but  that  these  were  the  best  caves  he  ever  saw ; 
for  that  was  the  idea  which  he  conceived  of  the  pillars  and  arches 
upon  which  the  church  stands.'  M.  Martin's  Western  Isles,  p.  297. 
Mr.  Croker  compares  the  passage  in  T/ie  Spectator  (No.  50),  in  which 
an  Indian  king  is  made  to  say  of  St.  Paul's  : — '  It  was  probably  at  first 
an  huge  misshapen  rock  that  grew  upon  the  top  of  the  hill,  which  the 

Mr. 


522  A  schoolboys  happiness.  [a. d.  1763. 

Mr.  Johnson  had  directed  his  attention.  He  said  he  would 
go  to  the  Hebrides  with  me,  when  I  returned  from  my 
travels,  unless  some  ver^'  good  companion  should  offer  when 
I  was  absent,  which  he  did  not  think  probable ;  adding, 
'  There  arc  few  people  to  whom  I  take  so  much  to  as  you.' 
And  when  I  talked  of  my  leaving  England,  he  said  with  a 
very  affectionate  air,  '  My  dear  Boswell,  I  should  be  very  un- 
happy at  parting,  did  1  think  we  were  not  to  meet  again'.' 
I  cannot  too  often  remind  my  readers,  that  although  such 
instances  of  his  kindness  are  doubtless  very  flattering  to  me, 
yet  I  hope  my  recording  them  will  be  ascribed  to  a  better 
motive  than  to  vanity ;  for  they  afford  unquestionable  evi- 
dence of  his  tenderness  and  complacency,  which  some,  while 
they  were  forced  to  acknowledge  his  great  powers,  have  been 
so  strenuous  to  deny. 

He  maintained  that  a  boy  at  school  was  the  happiest  of 
human  beings".  I  supported  a  different  opinion,  from  \\  hich 
I  have  never  yet  varied,  that  a  man  is  happier ;  and  I  en- 
larged upon  the  anxiety  and  sufferings  which  are  endured 
at  school.  JoHN'SOX.  'Ah!  Sir,  a  boy's  being  flogged  is 
not  so  severe  as  a  man's  having  the  hiss  of  the  world  against 
him.     Men  have  a  solicitude  about  fame' ;  and  the  greater 

natives  of  the  country  (after  having  cut  it  into  a  kind  of  regular  figure) 
bored  and  hollowed  with  incredible  pains  and  industry.' 

'  Boswell,  writing  to  Temple  the  next  day,  slightly  varies  these 
words  : — '  He  said.  "  My  dear  Boswell,  it  would  give  me  great  pain  to 
part  with  you,  if  I  thought  we  were  not  to  meet  again."  '  Letters  of 
Boswell,  p.  34. 

"Gibbon  {M/sc.  IViv/cs,  i.  43)  protests  against  'the  trite  and  lavish 
praise  of  the  happiness  of  our  boyish  years,  which  is  echoed  with  so 
much  affectation  in  the  world.  That  happiness  I  have  never  known, 
that  time  I  have  never  regretted.  The  poet  may  gaily  describe  the 
short  hours  of  recreation  ;  but  he  forgets  the  daily  tedious  labours  of 
the  school,  which  is  approached  each  morning  with  anxious  and  re- 
luctant steps.'     See  ante,  p.  51,  and  post,  under  Feb.  27,  1772. 

'  About  fame  Gibbon  felt  much  as  Johnson  did.  '  I  am  disgusted,' 
he  wrote  {ib.  272),  'with  the  aflfectation  of  men  of  letters,  who  com- 
plain that  they  have  renounced  a  substance  for  a  shadow,  and  that 
their  fame  (which  sometimes  is  no  insupportable  weight)  affords  a 

shru-L 


Aetat. 54.]     Praise  of  Sir  David  Dalrymple.  523 

share  they  have  of  it,  the  more  afraid  they  are  of  losing  it.' 
I  silently  asked  myself,  '  Is  it  possible  that  the  great  Samuel 
Johnson  really  entertains  any  such  apprehension,  and  is  not 
confident  that  his  exalted  fame  is  established  upon  a  founda- 
tion never  to  be  shaken?' 

He  this  evening  drank  a  bumper  to  Sir  David  Dalrymple', 
'  as  a  man  of  worth,  a  scholar,  and  a  wit.'  '  I  have  (said  he) 
never  heard  of  him  except  from  you  ;  but  let  him  know  my 
opinion  of  him  :  for  as  he  does  not  shew  himself  much  in 
the  w^orld,  he  should  have  the  praise  of  the  few  who  hear  of 
him.' 

On  Tuesday,  July  26,  I  found  Mr,  Johnson  alone.  It  was 
a  very  wet  day,  and  I  again  complained  of  the  disagreeable 
effects  of  such  weather.  JOHNSON.  '  Sir,  this  is  all  imagi- 
nation, which  physicians  encourage :  for  man  lives  in  air,  as 
a  fish  lives  in  water ;  so  that  if  the  atmosphere  press  heavy 
from  above,  there  is  an  equal  resistance  from  below.  To  be 
sure,  bad  weather  is  hard  upon  people  who  are  obliged  to  be 
abroad  ;  and  men  cannot  labour  so  well  in  the  open  air  in 
bad  weather,  as  in  good :  but,  Sir,  a  smith  or  a  taylor,  whose 
work  is  within  doors,  will  surely  do  as  much  in  rainy  weather, 
as  in  fair.  Some  very  delicate  frames,  indeed,  may  be  af- 
fected by  wet  weather ;  but  not  common  constitutions\' 

We  talked  of  the  education  of  children  ;  and  I  asked  him 
what  he  thought  was  best  to  teach  them  first.  JOHNSON. 
*  Sir,  it  is  no  matter  what  you  teach  them  first,  any  more 
than  what  leg  you  shall  put  into  your  breeches  first.  Sir, 
you  may  stand  disputing  which  is  best  to  put  in  first,  but  in 
the  meantime  your  breech  is  bare.  Sir,  while  you  are  con- 
sidering which  of  two  things  you  should  teach  your  child 
first,  another  boy  has  learnt  them  both.' 


poor  compensation  for  envy,  censure,  and  persecution.  My  own  ex- 
perience, at  least,  has  taught  me  a  very  different  lesson ;  twenty  happy 
years  have  been  animated  by  the  labour  of  my  History,  and  its  success 
has  given  me  a  name,  a  rank,  a  character,  in  the  world,  to  which  I 
should  not  otherwise  have  been  entitled." 

'  See  ante,  p.  500.  *  See  ante,  p.  385. 

On 


524  The   Tale  of  a   Tub.  [a. d.  1763. 

On  Thursday,  July  28,  wc  again  supped  in  private  at  the 
Turk's  Head  coffee-house.  Johnson.  'Swift  has  a  higher 
reputation  than  he  deserves.  His  excellence  is  strong  sense  ; 
for  his  humour,  though  very  well,  is  not  remarkably  good. 
I  doubt  whether  Tlic  Tale  of  a  Tub  be  his ;  for  he  never 
owned  it,  and  it  is  much  above  his  usual  manner'.' 

'  Thompson,  I  think,  had  as  much  of  the  poet  about  him 
as  most  writers.  Every  thing  appeared  to  him  through  the 
medium  of  his  favourite  pursuit.  He  could  not  have  viewed 
those  two  candles  burning  but  with  a  poetical  eye\' 

'  This  opinion  was  given  by  him  more  at  large  at  a  subsequent 
period.  See  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  3rd  edit.  p.  32  [Aug. 
16].  BoswELL.  '  That  Swift  was  its  authour,  though  it  be  universal- 
ly believed,  was  never  owned  by  himself,  nor  very  well  proved  by  any 
evidence ;  but  no  other  claimant  can  be  produced,  and  he  did  not 
deny  it  when  Archbishop  Sharpe  and  the  Duchess  of  Somerset,  by 
shewing  it  to  the  Queen,  debarred  him  from  a  bishoprick."  Johnson's 
Works,  viii.  197.  See  also  post,  March  24,  1775.  Stockdale  records 
{Mcj/wi'rs,  ii.6i)  that  Johnson  said  'that  if  Swift  was  really  the  author 
of  T/ie  Tate  of  a  Tub,  as  the  best  of  his  other  performances  were  of  a 
very  inferior  merit,  he  should  have  hanged  himself  after  he  had  writ- 
ten it.'  Scott  {Life  of  Swift,  ed.  1834,  p.  yj)  says: — 'Mrs.  Whiteway 
observed  the  Dean,  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life  [in  1735],  looking 
over  the  Tale,  when  suddenly  closing  the  book  he  muttered,  in  an 
unconscious  soliloqu3^  "  Good  God  !  what  a  genius  I  had  when  I  wrote 
that  book !"  She  begged  it  of  him,  who  made  some  excuse  at  the 
moment;  but  on  her  birthday  he  presented  her  with  it  inscribed, 
"  From  her  affectionate  cousin."  On  observing  the  inscription,  she 
ventured  to  say,  "  I  wish.  Sir,  you  had  said  the  gift  of  the  author !" 
The  Dean  bowed,  smiled  good-humouredly,  and  answered,  "  No,  I 
thank  you,"  in  a  very  significant  manner.'  There  is  this  to  be  said  of 
Johnson's  incredulity  about  the  Tale  of  a  Tub,  that  the  History  of  JoJm 
Bull  and  the  Memoirs  of  Martimis  Scriblerus,  though  both  by  Arbuth- 
not,  were  commonly  assigned  to  Swift,  and  are  printed  in  his  Works. 

-  "Thomson  thinks  in  a  peculiar  train,  and  he  thinks  always  as  a 
man  of  genius ;  he  looks  round  on  Nature  and  on  Life  with  the  eye 
which  Nature  bestows  only  on  a  poet ; — the  eye  that  distinguishes  in 
everything  presented  to  its  view  whatever  there  is  on  which  imagina- 
tion can  delight  to  be  detained,  and  with  a  mind  that  at  once  compre- 
hends the  vast,  and  attends  to  the  minute.'  Johnson's  Works,  viii.  377. 
3^0.  fiost,  ii.  72,  and  April  11,  1776. 

'  Has 


Aetat.54.|      Mr.  T/iomas  Sheridaiis  diilness.  525 

'Has  not '  a  great  deal  of  wit,  Sir?'     JOHNSON.    'I 

do  not  think  so,  Sir.  He  is,  indeed,  continually  attempting 
wit,  but  he  fails.  And  I  have  no  more  pleasure  in  hearing 
a  man  attempting  wit  and  failing,  than  in  seeing  a  man  try- 
ing to  leap  over  a  ditch  and  tumbling  into  it.' 

He  laughed  heartily,  when  I  mentioned  to  him  a  saying 
of  his  concerning  Mr.  Thomas  Sheridan,  which  Foote  took 
a  wicked  pleasure  to  circulate.  'Why,  Sir,  Sherry  is  dull, 
naturally  dull ;  but  it  must  have  taken  him  a  great  deal  of 
pains  to  become  what  we  now  see  him.  Such  an  excess  of 
stupidity.  Sir,  is  not  in  Nature.'  '  So  (said  he,)  I  allowed 
him  all  his  own  merit.' 

He  now  added,  '  Sheridan  cannot  bear  me.  I  bring  his 
declamation  to  a  point.  I  ask  him  a  plain  question,  "  What 
do  you  mean  to  teach  ?"  Besides,  Sir,  what  influence  can 
Mr.  Sheridan  have  upon  the  language  of  this  great  country, 
by  his  narrow  exertions?  Sir,  it  is  burning  a  farthing  can- 
dle at  Dover,  to  shew  light  at  Calais^' 

Talking  of  a  young  man'  who  was  uneasy  from  thinking 
that  he  was  very  deficient  in  learning  and  knowledge,  he 
said,  '  A  man  has  no  reason  to  complain  who  holds  a  middle 
place,  and  has  many  below  him  ;  and  perhaps  he  has  not 
six  of  his  years  above  him  ; — perhaps  not  one.  Though  he 
may  not    know   any   thing   perfectly,  the  general   mass  of 

'  Burke  seems  to  be  meant.  Sg^c  posf,  April  25,  1778,  and  Boswell's 
Hebrides,  Aug.  15,  and  Sept.  1 5,  1773.  It  is  strange  however  that,  while 
in  these  three  places  Boswell  mentions  Burke's  name,  he  should  leave 
a  blank  here.  In  BoswclliiHia,  p.  328,  Boswell  records  : — '  Langton  said 
Burke  hammered  his  wit  upon  an  anvil,  and  the  iron  was  cold.  There 
were  no  sparks  flashing  and  flying  all  about.' 

'  In  Bosiuelliana  (p.  214)  this  anecdote  is  thus  given  : — '  Boswell  was 
talking  to  Mr.  Samuel  Johnson  of  Mr.  Sheridan's  enthusiasm  for  the 
advancement  of  eloquence.  "  Sir,"  said  Mr.  Johnson,  "  it  won't  do. 
He  cannot  carry  through  his  scheme.  He  is  like  a  man  attempting 
to  stride  the  English  Channel.  Sir,  the  cause  bears  no  proportion  to 
the  eflect.  It  is  setting  up  a  candle  at  Whitechapel  to  give  light  at 
Westminster."  '  See  also  ante,  p.  446,  2Ln6.  post,  Oct.  16,  1769,  April  18 
and  May  17,  1783. 

^  Most  likel}^  Boswell  himself.     See  aufc.  p.  475. 

knowlcdfie 


526  Experience  the  test  of  truth.  [a. d.  1763. 

knowledge  that  he  has  acquired  is  considerable.  Time  will 
do  for  him  all  that  is  wanting.' 

The  conversation  then  took  a  philosophical  turn.  John- 
son. '  Human  experience,  which  is  constantly  contradicting 
theory,  is  the  great  test  of  truth.  A  system,  built  upon  the 
discoveries  of  a  great  many  minds,  is  always  of  more  strength, 
than  what  is  produced  by  the  mere  workings  of  any  one 
mind,  which,  of  itself,  can  do  little.  There  is  not  so  poor  a 
book  in  the  world  that  would  not  be  a  prodigious  effort  were 
it  wrought  out  entirely  by  a  single  mind,  without  the  aid  of 
prior  investigators.  The  French  writers  are  superficial' ;  be- 
cause they  are  not  scholars,  and  so  proceed  upon  the  mere 
power  of  their  own  minds  ;  and  we  see  how  very  little  power 
they  have.' 

'  As  to  the  Christian  religion,  Sir,  besides  the  strong  evi- 
dence which  we  have  for  it,  there  is  a  balance  in  its  favour 
from  the  number  of  great  men  who  have  been  convinced  of 
its  truth,  after  a  serious  consideration  of  the  question.  Gro- 
tius  was  an  acute  man,  a  lawyer,  a  man  accustomed  to  ex- 
amine evidence,  and  he  was  convinced.  Grotius  was  not  a 
recluse,  but  a  man  of  the  world,  who  certainly  had  no  bias 
to  the  side  of  religion.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  set  out  an  infidel'', 
and  came  to  be  a  very  firm  believer.' 

'  '  Let  a  Frenchman  talk  twice  with  a  minister  of  state,  he  desires 
no  more  to  furnish  out  a  volume.'  Swift's  Works,  ed.  1803,  xvi.  197. 
Lord  Chesterfield  wrote  from  Paris  in  1741  : — 'They  [the  Parisians] 
despise  us,  and  with  reason,  for  our  ill-breeding ;  on  the  other  hand, 
we  despise  them  for  their  want  of  learning,  and  we  are  in  the  right  of 
it.'  Supplement  to  Chesterfield's  Letters, '^.  \().  See  Bos  well 's //t'^r/c/^'^-, 
Oct.  14,  1773. 

*  '  Dr.  Johnson  said  that  he  had  been  told  by  an  acquaintance  of 
Sir  Isaac  Newton,  that  in  early  life  he  started  as  a  clamorous  infidel." 
Seward's  Anecdotes,  ii.  324.  In  Brewster's  Life  of  Newton  I  find  no 
mention  of  early  infidelity.  On  the  contrary,  Newton  had  been  de- 
scribed as  one  who  '  had  been  a  searcher  of  the  Scriptures  from  his 
youth'  (ii.  314).  Brewster  says  that  'some  foreign  writers  have  en- 
deavoured to  shew  that  his  theological  writings  were  composed  at  a 
late  period  of  life,  when  his  mind  was  in  its  dotage.'  It  was  not  so, 
however.     /<^.  p.  315. 

He 


Aetat.  54.]       The  University  of  Salamancha.  527 

He  this  evening  again  recommended  me  to  perambulate 
Spain'.  I  said  it  would  amuse  him  to  get  a  letter  from  me 
dated  at  Salamancha.  Johnson.  '  I  love  the  University  of 
Salamancha ;  for  when  the  Spaniards  were  in  doubt  as  to 
the  lawfulness  of  their  conquering  America,  the  University 
of  Salamancha  gave  it  as  their  opinion  that  it  was  not  law- 
ful,' He  spoke  this  with  great  emotion,  and  with  that  gen- 
erous warmth  which  dictated  the  lines  in  his  London,  against 
Spanish  encroachment". 

I  expressed  my  opinion  of  my  friend  Derrick  as  but  a  poor 
writer.  JOHNSON,  '  To  be  sure,  Sir,  he  is  ;  but  you  are  to  con- 
sider that  his  being  a  literary  man  has  got  for  him  all  that  he 
has.  It  has  made  him  King  of  Bath',  Sir,  he  has  nothing 
to  say  for  himself  but  that  he  is  a  writer.  Had  he  not  been 
a  writer,  he  must  have  been  sweeping  the  crossings  in  the 
streets,  and  asking  halfpence  from  every  body  that  past.' 

In  justice,  however,  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Derrick,  who 
was  my  first  tutor  in  the  ways  of  London,  and  shewed  me 
the  town  in  all  its  variety  of  departments,  both  literary  and 


'  I  fully  intended  to  have  followed  advice  of  such  weight ;  but  hav- 
ing staid  much  longer  both  in  Germany  and  Italy  than  I  proposed  to 
do,  and  having  also  visited  Corsica,  I  found  that  I  had  exceeded  the 
time  allowed  me  by  my  father,  and  hastened  to  France  in  my  way 
homewards.     Boswell.     See  a7ttc,  p.  474. 

'  Has  heaven  reserved,  in  pity  to  the  poor, 

No  pathless  waste,  or  undiscovered  shore  ? 

No  secret  island  in  the  boundless  main  ? 

No  peaceful  desert,  yet  unclaimed  by  Spain  ?' 
Johnson  looked  upon  the  discovery  of  America  as  a  misfortune  to 
mankind.  In  Taxation  no  Tyranny  (  Works,  vi.  233)  he  says  that  '  no 
part  of  the  world  has  yet  had  reason  to  rejoice  that  Columbus  found 
at  last  reception  and  employment.  In  the  same  year,  in  a  year  hith- 
erto disastrous  to  mankind,  by  the  Portuguese  was  discovered  the 
passage  of  the  Indies,  and  by  the  Spaniards  the  coast  of  America.' 
On  March  4,  1773,  he  wrote  (Croker's  Boswell,  p.  248)  : — 'I  do  not 
much  wish  well  to  discoveries,  for  I  am  always  afraid  they  will  end  in 
conquest  and  robbery.'  See  ante,  p.  356,  note  4,  and  post,  March  21, 
1775,  and  under  Dec.  24,  1783. 
*  See  ante,  p.  456,  note  2, 

sportive, 


528  Mr.  Derrick.  [a.d.  1763. 

sportive,  the  particulars  of  which  Dr.  Johnson  advised  me  to 
put  in  writing,  it  is  proper  to  mention  what  Johnson,  at  a  sub- 
sequent period,  said  of  him  both  as  a  writer  and  an  editor: 
'  Sir,  I  have  often  said,  that  if  Derrick's  letters'  had  been  writ- 
ten by  one  of  a  more  established  name,  they  would  have  been 
thought  very  pretty  letters'.'  And,  '  I  sent  Derrick  to  Dry- 
den's  relations  to  gather  materials  for  his  life  ;  and  I  believe 
he  got  all  that  I  myself  should  have  got'.' 

Poor  Derrick  !  I  remember  him  with  kindness.  Yet  I  can- 
not with-hold  from  my  readers  a  pleasant  humorous  sally 
which  could  not  have  hurt  him  had  he  been  alive,  and  now  is 
perfectly  harmless.  In  his  collection  of  poems,  there  is  one 
upon  entering  the  harbour  of  Dublin,  his  native  city,  after  a 
long  absence.     It  begins  thus  : 

'  Eblana  !  much  lov'd  city,  hail ! 
Where  first  I  saw  the  light  of  day.' 

And  after  a  solemn  reflection  on  his  being  '  numbered  with 
forgotten  dead,'  there  is  the  following  stanza : 

'Unless  my  lines  protract  my  fame. 

And  those,  who  chance  to  read  them,  cry, 
I  knew  him  !     Derrick  was  his  name. 
In  yonder  tomb  his  ashes  lie.' 

Which  was  thus  happil)'  parodied  by  Mr.  John  Home,  to 
whom  we  owe  the  beautiful  and  pathctick  tragedy  of  Douglas: 

'  Unless  my  deeds  protract  my  fame. 

And  he  who  passes  sadly  sings, 
I  knew  him  !     Derrick  was  his  name, 
0?i  yonder  tree  his  carcase  swings  P 

I  doubt  much  whether  the  amiable  and  ingenious  authour 

'  Letters  ivrtttenfrom  Le7>erpoole,  Chester,  Corke,  (Sr^c,  by  Samuel  Der- 
rick, 1767. 

'  Journal  of  a   Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  3rd  ed.  p.  104  [Aug.  27,  1773]. 

BOSWEI.L. 

'  Ibid.  p.  142  [242,  Sept.  22,  1773J.  BOSWELL.  Johnson  added: — 
'but  it  was   nothing.'     Derrick,  in    1760,  published   Dryden's  Misc. 

Works,  with  an  Account  of  his  Life, 

of 


Aetat.  54.]  A  day  at  Greenwich.  529 

of  these  burlesque  lines  will  recollect  them,  for  they  were 
produced  extempore  one  evening  while  he  and  I  were  walk- 
ing together  in  the  dining-room  at  Eglintoune  Castle,  in  1760, 
and  I  have  never  mentioned  them  to  him  since. 

Johnson  said  once  to  me,  'Sir,  I  honour  Derrick  for  his 
presence  of  mind.  One  night,  when  Floyd',  another  poor 
authour,  was  wandering  about  the  streets  in  the  night,  he 
found  Derrick  fast  asleep  upon  a  bulk* ;  upon  being  sud- 
denly waked,  Derrick  started  up,  "  My  dear  Floyd,  I  am  sorry 
to  see  you  in  this  destitute  state  ;  will  you  go  home  with  me 
to  my  lodgings  .^"  ' 

I  again  begged  his  advice  as  to  my  method  of  study  at 
Utrecht.  '  Come,  (said  he)  let  us  make  a  day  of  it.  Let  us 
go  down  to  Greenwich  and  dine,  and  talk  of  it  there.'  The 
following  Saturday  was  fixed  for  this  excursion. 

As  we  walked  along  the  Strand  to-night,  arm  in  arm,  a 
woman  of  the  town  accosted  us,  in  the  usual  enticing  man- 
ner. '  No,  no,  my  girl,  (said  Johnson)  it  won't  do.'  He,  how- 
ever, did  not  treat  her  with  harshness,  and  we  talked  of  the 
wretched  life  of  such  women  ;  and  agreed,  that  much  more 
misery  than  happiness,  upon  the  whole,  is  produced  by  illicit 
commerce  between  the  sexes. 

On  Saturday,  July  30,  Dr.  Johnson  and  I  took  a  sculler  at 
the  Temple-stairs,  and  set  out  for  Greenwich.  I  asked  him 
if  he  really  thought  a  knowledge  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  lan- 
guages an  essential  requisite  to  a  good  education.  JOHN- 
SON. 'Most  certainly.  Sir;  for  those  who  know  them  have  a 


'  He  published  a  biographical  work,  containing  an  account  of  emi- 
nent writers,  in  three  vols.  8vo.     Boswell. 

'  '  Thus  the  soft  gifts  of  sleep  conclude  the  day, 

And  stretched  on  bulks,  as  usual,  poets  lay.' 

The  Diinciad,  ii.  420. 
In  Humphry  Clinker,  in  the  Letter  of  June  10,  in  which  is  described 

the  dinner  given  by  S to  the  poor  authors,  of  one  of  them  it  is 

said  : — '  The  only  secret  which  he  ever  kept  was  the  place  of  his  lodg- 
ings; but  it  was  believed  that  during  the  heats  of  summer  he  com- 
monly took  his  repose  upon  a  bulk.'  Johnson  defines  bulk  as  a  part 
of  a  building  jutting  out. 

I.— 34  very 


530  The  desire  of  knowledge.  [a. d.  1763. 

very  great  advantage  over  those  who  do  not.  Nay,  Sir,  it 
is  wonderful  what  a  difference  learning  makes  upon  people 
even  in  the  common  intercourse  of  life,  which  does  not  ap- 
pear to  be  much  connected  with  it.'  '  And  yet,  (said  I)  people 
go  through  the  world  very  well,  and  carry  on  the  business  of 
life  to  good  advantage,  without  learning.'  JOHNSON.  '  Why, 
Sir,  that  maybe  true  in  cases  where  learning  cannot  possibly 
be  of  any  use  ;  for  instance,  this  boy  rows  us  as  well  without 
learning,  as  if  he  could  sing  the  song  of  Orpheus  to  the  Ar- 
gonauts, who  were  the  first  sailors.'  He  then  called  to  the 
boy,  '  What  would  you  give,  my  lad,  to  know  about  the  Ar- 
gonauts ?'  '  Sir,  (said  the  boy,)  I  would  give  what  I  have.' 
Johnson  was  much  pleased  with  his  answer,  and  we  gave  him 
a  double  fare.  Dr.  Johnson  then  turning  to  me,  '  Sir,  (said 
he,)  a  desire  of  knowledge  is  the  natural  feeling  of  mankind  ; 
and  every  human  being,  whose  mind  is  not  debauched,  will 
be  willing  to  give  all  that  he  has  to  get  knowledge'.' 

We  landed  at  the  Old  Swan\  and  walked  to  Billingsgate, 
where  we  took  oars,  and  moved  smoothly  along  the  silver 
Thames.  It  was  a  very  fine  day.  We  were  entertained  with 
the  immense  number  and  variety  of  ships  that  were  lying 
at  anchor,  and  with  the  beautiful  country  on  each  side  of 
the  river. 

I  talked  of  preaching,  and  of  the  great  success  which  those 
called  Methodists^  have.    JOHNSON.  *  Sir,  it  is  owing  to  their 

'  '  Knowledge  is  certainly  one  of  the  means  of  pleasure,  as  is  con- 
fessed by  the  natural  desire  which  every  mind  feels  of  increasing  its 
ideas  .  .  .  without  knowing  why  we  always  rejoice  when  we  learn,  and 
grieve  when  we  forget.'     Rassclas,  ch.  xi. 

^  In  the  days  of  Old  London  Bridge,  as  Mr.  Croker  points  out,  even 
when  the  tide  would  have  allowed  passengers  to  shoot  it,  those  who  were 
prudent  landed  above  the  bridge,  and  walked  to  some  wharf  below  it. 

'  All  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of  religion,  (the  most  im- 
portant, surely,  that  concerns  the  human  mind,)  know  that  the  appel- 
lation of  Methodists  was  first  given  to  a  society  of  students  in  the 
University  of  Oxford,  who  about  the  year  1730  were  distinguished  by 
an  earnest  and  incthodical  attention  to  devout  exercises.  This  dispo- 
sition of  mind  is  not  a  novelty,  or  peculiar  to  any  sect,  but  has  been, 
and  still  may  be  found,  in  many  Christians  of  every  denomination. 

expressing 


Aetat.  54.J  The  Methodists.  531 

expressing  themselves  in  a  plain  and  familiar  manner,  which 
is  the  only  way  to  do  good  to  the  common  people,  and 
which  clergymen  of  genius  and  learning  ought  to  do  from  a 


Johnson  himself  was,  in  a  dignified  manner,  a  Methodist.  In  his 
Rambler,  No.  no,  he  mentions  with  respect  'the  whole  discipline  of 
regulated  piety;'  and  in  his  Prayers  and  Meditations,  many  instances 
occur  of  his  anxious  examination  into  his  spiritual  state.  That  this 
religious  earnestness,  and  in  particular  an  observation  of  the  influence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  has  sometimes  degenerated  into  folly,  and  some- 
times been  counterfeited  for  base  purposes,  cannot  be  denied.  But  it 
is  not,  therefore,  fair  to  decry  it  when  genuine.  The  principal  argu- 
ment in  reason  and  good  sense  against  methodism  is,  that  it  tends  to 
debase  human  nature,  and  prevent  the  generous  exertions  of  good- 
ness, by  an  unworthy  supposition  that  God  will  pay  no  regard  to 
them  ;  although  it  is  positively  said  in  the  scriptures  that  He  '  will 
reward  every  man  according  to  his  works."  [St.  Matthew,  xvi.  27.] 
But  I  am  happy  to  have  it  [in]  my  power  to  do  justice  to  those  whom 
it  is  the  fashion  to  ridicule,  without  any  knowledge  of  their  tenets; 
and  this  I  can  do  by  quoting  a  passage  from  one  of  their  best  apolo- 
gists, Mr.  Milner,  v/ho  thus  expresses  their  doctrine  upon  this  subject. 
'Justified  by  faith,  renewed  in  his  faculties,  and  constrained  by  the 
love  of  Christ,  their  believer  moves  in  the  sphere  of  love  and  grati- 
tude, and  all  his  duties  flow  more  or  less  from  this  principle.  And 
though  they  are  accwmdating  for  him  in  heaven  a  treasure  of  bliss 
proportioned  to  his  faithfulness  and  activity,  and  it  is  by  no  means  in- 
consistent with  his  principles  to  feel  the  force  of  this  consideration,  yet 
love  itself  sweetens  every  duty  to  his  mind ;  and  he  thinks  there  is 
no  absurdity  in  his  feeling  the  love  of  GoD  as  the  grand  commanding 
principle  of  his  life.'  Essays  07i  several  religious  Subjects,  &^c.,  by  Jo- 
seph Milner,  A.M.,  Af aster  of  the  Grammar  School  of  Kingston-upon- 
Hull,  1789,  p.  II.  BOSWELL.  Southey  (/-//>  of  Wesley,  i.  41  ),  men- 
tioning the  names  given  at  Oxford  to  Wesley  and  his  followers, 
continues : — '  One  person  with  less  irreverence  and  more  learning 
observed,  in  reference  to  their  methodical  manner  of  life,  that  a  new 
sect  of  Methodists  was  sprung  up,  alluding  to  the  ancient  school  of 
physicians  known  by  that  name.'  Wesley,  in  1744,  wrote  The  Humble 
Address  to  the  King  of  the  Societies  in  derision  called  Methodists. 
Journal,  i.  437.  He  often  speaks  of  'the  people  called  Methodists,' 
but  sometimes  he  uses  the  term  without  any  qualification.  Mrs. 
Thrale,  in  1780,  wrote  to  Johnson  : — '  Methodist  is  considered  always 
a  term  of  reproach,  I  trust,  because  I  never  yet  did  hear  that  any  one 
person  called  himself  a  Methodist.'     Piozzi  Letters,  ii.  119. 

principle 


532  Greenwich  hospital.  [a. d.  1763. 

principle  of  duty,  when  it  is  suited  to  their  congregations;  a 
practice,  for  which  they  will  be  praised  by  men  of  sense'.  To 
insist  against  drunkenness  as  a  crime,  because  it  debases  rea- 
son, the  noblest  faculty  of  man,  w^ould  be  of  no  service  to 
the  common  people  :  but  to  tell  them  that  they  may  die  in 
a  fit  of  drunkenness,  and  shew  them  how  dreadful  that  would 
be,  cannot  fail  to  make  a  deep  impression.  Sir,  when  your 
Scotch  clergy  give  up  their  homely  manner,  religion  will  soon 
decay  in  that  country.'  Let  this  observation,  as  Johnson 
meant  it,  be  ever  remembered. 

I  was  much  pleased  to  find  myself  with  Johnson  at  Green- 
wich, which  he  celebrates  in  his  London  as  a  favourite  scene. 
1  had  the  poem  in  my  pocket,  and  read  the  lines  aloud 
with  enthusiasm  : 

'  On  Thames's  banks  in  silent  thought  we  stood : 
Where  Greenwich  smiles  upon  the  silver  flood  : 
Pleas'd"  with  the  seat  which  gave  Eliza  birth. 
We  kneel,  and  kiss  the  consecrated  earth.' 

He  remarked  that  the  structure  of  Greenwich  hospital  was 
too  magnificent  for  a  place  of  charity,  and  that  its  parts 
were  too  much  detached  to  make  one  great  whole. 

Buchanan,  he  said,  was  a  very  fine  poet ;  and  observed, 
that  he  was  the  first  who  complimented  a  lady,  by  ascribing 
to  her  the  different  perfections  of  the  heathen  goddesses^ ; 
but  that  Johnston"  improved  upon  this,  by  making  his  lady, 
at  the  same  time,  free  from  their  defects. 

'  Wesley  said  : — '  We  should  constantly  use  the  most  common,  lit- 
tle, easy  words  ( so  they  are  pure  and  proper  )  which  our  language 
affords.  When  first  I  talked  at  Oxford  to  plain  people  in  the  Castle 
[the  prison]  or  the  town,  I  observed  they  gaped  and  stared.  This 
quickly  obliged  me  to  alter  my  style,  and  adopt  the  language  of  those 
I  spoke  to ;  and  yet  there  is  a  dignity  in  their  simplicity,  which  is  not 
disagreeable  to  those  of  the  highest  rank.'  Southey's  Wesley,  i.  431. 
St&post,  1770,  in  Dr.  Maxwell's  Collectanea,  Oct.  12,  1779,  Aug.  30,  1780, 
and  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Nov.  lo,  1773. 

'  In  the  original,  struck. 

'  Epigram,  Lib.  ii.     '  In  Elizabeth.     Angliae  Reg.'     Malone. 

*  See  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Aug.  23. 

He 


Aetat.  54.]  A  course  of  study.  533 

He  dwelt  upon  Buchanan's  elegant  verses  to  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots,  Nyjiip/ia  Ca/cdonice,  &c.,  and  spoke  with  enthusiasm 
of  the  beauty  of  Latin  verse.  '  All  the  modern  languages 
(said  he)  cannot  furnish  so  melodious  a  line  as 

^  Formosam  rcsonare  doces  Amarillida  silvas^.^ 

Afterwards  he  entered  upon  the  business  of  the  day,  which 
was  to  give  me  his  advice  as  to  a  course  of  study.  And  here 
1  am  to  mention  with  much  regret,  that  my  record  of  what  he 
said  is  miserably  scanty.  I  recollect  with  admiration  an  ani- 
mating blaze  of  eloquence,  which  rouzed  every  intellectual 
power  in  me  to  the  highest  pitch,  but  must  have  dazzled 
me  so  much,  that  my  memory  could  not  preserve  the  sub- 
stance of  his  discourse^;  for  the  note  which  I  find  of  it  is  no 
more  than  this: — '  He  ran  over  the  grand  scale  of  human 
knowledge ;  advised  me  to  select  some  particular  branch  to 
excel  in,  but  to  acquire  a  little  of  every  kind.'  The  defect 
of  my  minutes  will  be  fully  supplied  by  a  long  letter  upon 
the  subject  which  he  favoured  me  with,  after  I  had  been 
some  time  at  Utrecht,  and  which  my  readers  will  have  the 
pleasure  to  peruse  in  its  proper  place. 

We  walked  in  the  evening  in  Greenwich  Park.  He  asked 
me,  I  suppose,  by  way  of  trying  my  disposition,  '  Is  not  this 
very  fine?'  Having  no  exquisite  relish  of  the  beauties  of 
Nature',  and  being  more  delighted  with  'the  busy  hum  of 
men",'  I  answered,  '  Yes,  Sir ;  but  not  equal  to  Fleet-street\' 
Johnson.  'You  are  right,  Sir.' 

'  Virgil,  Eclogues,  i.  5.     Johnson,  when  a  boy,  turned  the  line  thus  : — 
'And  the  wood  rings  with  Amarillis'  name.'    Ante,  p.  59. 

"^  Boswell  said  of  Paoli's  talk  about  great  men  : — '  I  regret  that  the 
fire  with  which  he  spoke  upon  such  occasions  so  dazzled  me,  that  I 
could  not  recollect  his  sayings,  so  as  to  write  them  down  when  I  re- 
tired from  his  presence.'     Corsica,  p.  197. 

'  More  passages  than  one  in  Boswell's  Letters  to  Temple  shew  this 
absence  of  relish.  Thus  in  1775  he  writes: — '  I  perceive  some  dawn- 
ings  of  taste  for  the  country'  (p.  2i6) ;  and  again: — 'I  will  force  a 
taste  for  natural  beauties  '  (p,  219). 

*  Milton's  L Allegro,  I.  118. 

'  See  post,  April  2,  1775,  and  April  17,  1778. 

I  am 


534  Affected  by  the  temperature.  [a.d.  17G3. 

I  am  aware  that  many  of  my  readers  may  censure  my 
want  of  taste.  Let  me,  however,  shelter  myself  under  the 
authority  of  a  very  fashionable  Baronet'  in  the  brilliant 
world,  who,  on  his  attention  being  called  to  the  fragrance  of 
a  May  evening  in  the  country,  observed,  '  This  may  be  very 
well ;  but,  for  my  part,  I  prefer  the  smell  of  a  flambeau  at 
the  play-house'.' 

We  staid  so  long  at  Greenwich,  that  our  sail  up  the  river, 
in  our  return  to  London,  was  by  no  means  so  pleasant  as  in 
the  morning ;  for  the  night  air  was  so  cold  that  it  made  me 
shiver,  I  was  the  more  sensible  of  it  from  having  sat  up  all 
the  night  before,  recollecting  and  writing  in  my  journal  what 
I  thought  worthy  of  preservation  ;  an  exertion,  which,  during 
the  first  part  of  my  acquaintance  with  Johnson,  I  frequently 
made.  I  remember  having  sat  up  four  nights  in  one  week, 
without  being  much  incommoded  in  the  day  time. 

Johnson,  whose  robust  frame  was  not  in  the  least  affected 
by  the  cold,  scolded  me,  as  if  my  shivering  had  been  a  pal- 
try effeminacy,  saying, '  Why  do  you  shiver?'  Sir  William 
Scott\  of  the  Commons,  told  me,  that  when  he  complained 
of  a  head-ach  in  the  post-chaise,  as  they  were  travelling  to- 
gether to  Scotland,  Johnson  treated  him  in  the  same  manner : 

'  My  friend  Sir  Michael  Le  Fleming.  This  gentleman,  with  all  his 
experience  of  sprightly  and  elegant  life,  inherits,  with  the  beautiful 
family  Domain,  no  inconsiderable  share  of  that  love  of  literature, 
which  distinguished  his  venerable  grandfather,  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle. 
He  one  day  observed  to  me,  of  Dr.  Johnson,  in  a  felicity  of  phrase, 
'  There  is  a  blunt  dignity  about  him  on  every  occasion.'     Boswell. 

'■'  Wordsworth's  lines  to  the  Baronet's  daughter.  Lady  Fleming, 
might  be  applied  to  the  father : — 

'  Lives  there  a  man  whose  sole  delights 

Are  trivial  pomp  and  city  noise. 
Hardening  a  heart  that  loathes  or  slights 
What  every  natural  heart  enjoys  ?' 

Wordsworth's  Poems,  iv.  338. 
'  Afterwards  Lord  Stowell.     He  was  a  member  of  Doctors'  Com- 
mons, the  College  of  Civilians  in  London,  who  practised  in  the  Eccle- 
siastical Courts  and  the  Court  of  the  Admiralty.     See  Boswell's  Heb- 
rides, ^u^.  14,  1773. 

'At 


Aetat.  54.]  Atichiuleck.  535 

'  At  your  age,  Sir,  I  had  no  head-ach.'  It  is  not  easy  to 
make  allowance  for  sensations  in  others,  which  we  ourselves 
have  not  at  the  time.  We  must  all  have  experienced  how 
very  differently  we  are  affected  by  the  complaints  of  our 
neighbours,  when  we  are  well  and  when  we  are  ill.  In  full 
health,  we  can  scarcely  believe  that  they  suffer  much  ;  so 
faint  is  the  image  of  pain  upon  our  imagination :  when  soft- 
ened by  sickness,  we  readily  sympathize  with  the  sufferings 
of  others. 

We  concluded  the  day  at  the  Turk's  Head  coffee-house 
very  socially.  He  was  pleased  to  listen  to  a  particular  ac- 
count which  I  gave  him  of  my  family,  and  of  its  hereditary 
estate,  as  to  the  extent  and  population  of  which  he  asked 
questions, and  made  calculations;  recommending, at  the  same 
time,  a  liberal  kindness  to  the  tenantry,  as  people  over  whom 
the  proprietor  was  placed  by  Providence'.  He  took  delight 
in  hearing  my  description  of  the  romantick  seat  of  my  an- 
cestors. '  I  must  be  there.  Sir,  (said  he)  and  we  will  live  in 
the  old  castle ;  and  if  there  is  not  a  room  in  it  remaining, 
we  will  build  one.'  I  was  highly  flattered,  but  could  scarcely 
indulge  a  hope  that  Auchinleck  would  indeed  be  honoured 
by  his  presence,  and  celebrated  by  ?  description,  as  it  after- 
wards was,  in  his  Journey  to  the  IVestej'n  Islands'' . 

After  we  had  again  talked  of  my  setting  out  for  Holland, 
he  said, '  I  must  see  thee  out  of  England  ;  I  will  accompany 
you  to  Harwich.'  I  could  not  find  words  to  express  what  I 
felt  upon  this  unexpected  and  very  great  mark  of  his  affec- 
tionate regard. 

Next  day,  Sunday,  July  31,1  told  him  I  had  been  that 
morning  at  a  meeting  of  the  people  called  Quakers,  where  I 
had  heard  a  woman  preach.  JOHNSON.  '  Sir,  a  woman's 
preaching  is  like  a  dog's  walking  on  his  hinder  legs.  It  is 
not  done  well ;  but  you  are  surprized  to  find  it  done  at  all.' 

'  He  repeated  this  advice  on  the  death  of  Boswell's  father, /c;^'/ 
Sept.  7,  1782. 

°  Johnson  {li'oris,  ix.  159)  describes  '  the  sullen  dignity  of  the  old 
castle.'     See  also  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Nov.  4,  1773. 

On 


536  Tea  witJi  Miss  JVillianis.  [a.i\1763. 

On  Tuesday,  August  2,  (the  d.i)-  of  nn-  tlcparlurc  from 
London  havini;"  been  fixed  for  the  5th,)  Dr.  Johnson  did  me 
the  lionour  to  pass  a  part  of  the  morning  with  me  at  my 
Chambers,  lie  said,  that  'he  always  felt  an  inclination  to 
do  nothing."  I  observed,  that  it  was  strange  to  think  that 
the  most  indolent  man  in  Britain  had  written  the  most 
laborious  work.  The  linglisli  Dictionary. 

I  mentioned  an  imprudent  publication',  hy  a  certain  friend 
of  his,  at  an  early  period  of  life,  and  asked  him  if  lu-  thought 
it  would  hurt  him.  Johnson.  'No,  Sir;  not  much.  It 
may,  perhaps,  be  mentioned  at  an  election." 

I  had  now  made  good  nn-  title  to  be  a  privilegetl  man', 
and  was  carried  by  him  in  the  evening  to  drink  tea  with 
Miss  Williams,  whom,  though  under  the  misfortune  of  having 
lost  her  sight,  I  found  to  be  agreeable  in  conversation  ;  for 
she  had  a  variety  of  literature,  and  expressed  herself  well ; 
but  her  peculiar  value  was  the  intimac)'  in  which  she  had 
long  lived  with  Johnson,  by  which  she  was  well  ae(iuaiiited 
with  his  habits,  and  knew  how  to  lead  him  on  to  talk. 

After  tea  he  carried  me  to  what  he  called  his  walk,  \\  hich 
was  a  long  narrow  paved  ccnirt  in  the  neighbourhood,  over- 
shadowed b)'  some  trees.  There  we  sauntered  a  consider- 
able time;  and  I  complained  to  him  that  nn'  love  of  London 
and  his  compan)-  was  such,  that  I  shrunk  almost  from  the 
thought  of  going  away,  even  to  travel,  which  is  generall\-  so 
much  desired  b)'  young  men".  He  roused  me  b\'  manly  and 
spirited  cc^iversation.  He  advised  me,  when  settled  in  any 
place  abroad,  to  study  with  an  eagerness  after  knowletlge, 
and  to  apply  to  Greek  an  hour  every  day  ;  and  w  hen  I  was 
moving  about,  to  read  diligently  the  great  book  of  mankind. 

'  Probably  Burke's  Vindication  of  Xatural  Society,  published  in 
1756  when  Burke  was  twenty-six. 

'  Sec  ante,  p.  488. 

'  Boswell  wrote  to  Temple  on  |uly  28,  1763: — 'My  departure  fills 
me  with  a  kind  of  gloom  that  quite  overshadows  my  mind.  I  could 
almost  weep  to  think  of  leaving  dear  Londoti,  and  the  calm  retire- 
ment of  the  Inner  Temple.  This  is  very  etTeminate  and  very  young, 
but  1  cannot  help  it.'     Letters  of  Bos^ivell,  p.  46. 

On 


Aetat.  54.]  Convocation.  537 


On  Wednesday,  August  3,  we  had  our  last  social  evening 
at  the  Turk's  Head  coffee-house,  before  my  setting  out  for 
foreign  parts.  I  had  the  misfortune,  before  we  parted,  to 
irritate  him  unintentional!)'.  1  mentioned  to  him  how  com- 
mon it  was  in  the  world  to  tell  absurd  stories  of  him,  and  to 
ascribe  to  him  veiy  strange  sayings.  JoilN.SON.  *  What  do 
they  make  me  say.  Sir?'  BoswELL.  'Why,  Sir,  as  an  in- 
stance very  strange  indeed,  (laughing  heartily  as  I  spoke,) 
David  Hume  told  me,  you  said  that  you  would  stand  before 
a  battery  of  cannon,  to  restore  the  Convocation  to  its  full 
powers.'  Little  did  I  apprehend  that  he  had  actually  said 
this:  but  I  was  soon  convinced  of  my  errour  ;  for,  with  a 
determined  look,  he  thundered  out  'And  would  I  not,  Sir? 
Shall  the  Presbyterian  Kirk  of  Scotland  have  its  General 
Assembly,  and  the  Church  of  England  be  denied  its  Con- 
vocation?' He  was  walking  up  and  down  the  room  while 
1  told  him  the  anecdote ;  but  when  he  uttered  this  explo- 
sion of  high-church  zeal,  he  had  come  close  to  my  chair, 
and  his  eyes  flashed  wath  indignation'.  I  bowed  to  the 
storm,  and  diverted  the  force  of  it,  by  leading  him  to  ex- 
patiate on  the  influence  which  religion  derived  from  main- 
taining the  church  with  great  external  respectability. 

I  must  not  omit  to  mention  that  he  this  year  wrote  Tlie 
Life  of  Asc/iaiir\,  and  the  Dedication  to  the  Earl  of  Shaftes- 
bury f,  prefixed  to  the  edition  of  that  writer's  English  works, 
published  by  Mr.  Bennet\ 


'  Mrs.  Piozzi  says  {Aftcc.  p.  297)  that  'Johnson's  eyes  were  so  wild, 
so  piercing,  and  at  times  so  fierce,  that  fear  was,  I  believe,  the  first 
emotion  in  the  hearts  of  all  his  beholders.' 

*  Johnson  was,  in  fact,  the  editor  of  this  work,  as  appears  from  a 
letter  of  Mr.  T.  Davies  to  the  Rev.  Edm.  Bettesworth  : — '  Reverend  Sir, 
■ — I  take  the  liberty  to  send  you  Roger  Ascham's  works  in  English. 
Though  Mr.  Bennets  name  is  in  the  title,  the  editor  was  in  reality 
Mr.  Johnson,  the  author  of  T/tc  Ra)nblcr,  who  wrote  the  life  of  the  au- 
thor, and  added  several  notes.  Mr.  Johnson  gave  it  to  Mr.  Bennet, 
for  his  advantage,'  &c. — Croker.  Very  likely  Davies  exaggerated 
Johnson's  share  in  the  book.  Bennet's  edition  was  published,  not  in 
1763,  but  in  1761, 

On 


53^  -^'^  i^i^^  Harwich  stage  coach.  |a.u.  1763. 

On  Friday,  August  5,  we  set  out  early  in  the  morning  in 
the  Harwich  stage  coach.  A  fat  elderly  gentlewoman,  and 
a  young  Dutchman,  seemed  the  most  inclined  among  us  to 
conversation.  At  the  inn  where  we  dined,  the  gentlewoman 
said  that  she  had  done  her  best  to  educate  her  children  ;  and 
particularly,  that  she  had  never  suffered  them  to  be  a  mo- 
ment idle.  Johnson.  '  I  wish,  madam,  )'ou  would  educate 
me  too ;  for  I  have  been  an  idle  fellow  all  my  life.'  '  I  am 
sure,  Sir,  (said  she)  you  have  not  been  idle.'  JOHNSON.  '  Na)', 
Madam,  it  is  very  true ;  and  that  gentleman  there  (pointing 
to  me,)  has  been  idle.  He  was  idle  at  Edinburgh.  His 
father  sent  him  to  Glasgow,  where  he  continued  to  be  idle. 
He  then  came  to  London,  where  he  has  been  very  idle ;  and 
now  he  is  going  to  Utrecht,  where  he  will  be  as  idle  as  ever.' 
I  asked  him  privately  how  he  could  expose  me  so.  JOHNSON. 
'  Poh,  poh  !  (said  he)  they  knew  nothing  about  you,  and  will 
think  of  it  no  more.'  In  the  afternoon  the  gentlewoman 
talked  violently  against  the  Roman  Catholicks,  and  of  the 
horrours  of  the  Inquisition.  To  the  utter  astonishment  of 
all  the  passengers  but  myself,  who  knew  that  he  could  talk 
upon  any  side  of  a  question,  he  defended  the  Inquisition,  and 
maintained,  that  '  false  doctrine  should  be  checked  on  its  first 
appearance ;  that  the  civil  powder  should  unite  with  the  church 
in  punishing  those  who  dared  to  attack  the  established  reli- 
gion, and  that  such  only  Avere  punished  by  the  Inquisition'.' 
He  had  in  his  pocket  ' Pomponins  Mela  dc  situ  Orbis,'  in  which 
he  read  occasionally,  and  seemed  very  intent  upon  ancient 

'  Lord  Sheffield  describes  the  change  in  Gibbon's  opinions  caused 
by  the  Reign  of  Terror : — '  He  became  a  warm  and  zealous  advocate 
for  every  sort  of  old  establishment.  I  recollect  in  a  circle  where 
French  affairs  were  the  topic  and  some  Portuguese  present,  he,  seem- 
ingly with  seriousness,  argued  in  favour  of  the  Inquisition  at  Lisbon, 
and  said  he  would  not,  at  the  present  moment,  give  up  even  that  old 
establishment.'  Gibbon's  Misc.  Works,  i.  328.  One  of  Gibbon's  cor- 
respondents told  him  in  1792,  that  the  Wealth  of  Nations  had  been 
condemned  by  the  Inquisition  on  account  of  'the  lowness  of  its  style 
and  the  looseness  of  the  morals  which  it  inculcates.'  lb.  ii.  479.  See 
iS,^o  post,  May  7,  1773. 

geography. 


Aetat.54.]  Blackloclcs  poetry.  539 

geography.  Though  by  no  means  niggardly,  his  attention 
to  what  was  generally  right  was  so  minute,  that  having  ob- 
served at  one  of  the  stages  that  I  ostentatiously  gave  a  shil- 
ling to  the  coachman,  when  the  custom  was  for  each  passen- 
ger to  give  only  six-pence,  he  took  me  aside  and  scolded  me, 
saying  that  what  I  had  done  would  make  the  coachman  dis- 
satisfied with  all  the  rest  of  the  passengers,  who  gave  him  no 
more  than  his  due.  This  was  a  just  reprimand  ;  for  in  what- 
ever way  a  man  may  indulge  his  generosity  or  his  vanity  in 
spending  his  money,  for  the  sake  of  others  he  ought  not  to 
raise  the  price  of  any  article  for  which  there  is  a  constant 
demand. 

He  talked  of  Mr.  Blacklock's  poetry,  so  far  as  it  was  de- 
scriptive of  visible  objects ;  and  observed,  that  '  as  its  authour 
had  the  misfortune  to  be  blind,  we  may  be  absolutely  sure 
that  such  passages  are  combinations  of  what  he  has  remem- 
bered of  the  works  of  other  writers  who  could  see.  That  fool- 
ish fellow,  Spence,  has  laboured  to  explain  philosophically 
how  Blacklock  may  have  done,  by  means  of  his  own  faculties, 
what  it  is  impossible  he  should  do.'  The  solution,  as  I  have 
given  it,  is  plain.  Suppose,  I  know  a  man  to  be  so  lame  that 
he  is  absolutely  incapable  to  move  himself,  and  I  find  him  in 
a  different  room  from  that  in  which  I  left  him  ;  shall  I  puzzle 
myself  with  idle  conjectures,  that,  perhaps,  his  nerves  have 
by  some   unknown  change   all   at  once  become  effective  ? 


'  Johnson  wrote  on  Aug.  17,  1773: — 'This  morning  I  saw  at  break- 
fast Dr.  Blacklock,  the  blind  poet,  who  does  not  remember  to  have 
seen  light,  and  is  read  to  by  a  poor  scholar  in  Latin,  Greek,  and 
French.  He  was  originally  a  poor  scholar  himself.  I  looked  on  him 
with  reverence.'  Piozzi  Letters, '\.  wo.  See  also  '^0'irf}€\\''s  Hebrides, 
Aug.  17,  1773.  Spence  published  an  Account  of  Blacklock,  in  which  he 
meanly  omitted  any  mention  of  Hume's  great  generosity  to  the  blind 
poet.  J.  H.  Burton's  Hume,  i.  392.  Hume  asked  Blacklock  whether 
he  connected  colour  and  sound.  '  He  answered,  that  as  he  met  so 
often  with  the  terms  expressing  colours,  he  had  formed  some  false 
associations,  but  that  they  were  of  the  intellectual  kind.  The  illumi- 
nation of  the  sun,  for  instance,  he  supposed  to  rese-mble  the  presence 
of  a  friend.*    lb.  p.  389. 

No 


540  Torture  in  Holland.  [a.d.  1763. 

No,  Sir;  it  is  clear  how  he  got  into  a  different  room:  he  was 
carried' 

Having  stopped  a  night  at  Colchester',  Johnson  talked  of 
that  town  with  veneration,  for  having  stood  a  siege  for 
Charles  the  First.  The  Dutchman  alone  now  remained  with 
us.  He  spoke  English  tolerably  well ;  and  thinking  to  rec- 
ommend himself  to  us  by  expatiating  on  the  superiority  of 
the  criminal  jurisprudence  of  this  country  over  that  of  Hol- 
land, he  inveighed  against  the  barbarity  of  putting  an  accused 
person  to  the  torture,  in  order  to  force  a  confession''.  But 
Johnson  was  as  ready  for  this,  as  for  the  Inquisition.  '  Why, 
Sir,  you  do  not,  I  find,  understand  the  law  of  your  own 
country.     The  torture  of  Holland  is  considered  as  a  favour 


'  They  left  London  early  and  yet  they  travelled  only  51  miles  that 
day.  The  whole  distance  to  Harwich  is  71  miles.  Paterson's  Itiner- 
ary, I.  323. 

'  Mackintosh  [Life,  ii.  162)  writing  of  the  time  of  William  III,  says 
that  'torture  was  legal  in  Scotland,  and  familiar  in  every  country  of 
Europe  but  England.  Was  there  a  single  writer  at  that  time  who  had 
objected  to  torture.''  I  think  not.'  In  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  1742  (p. 
660)  it  is  stated  that  '  the  King  of  Prussia  has  forbid  the  use  of  torture 
in  his  dominions.'  In  1747  (p.  298)  we  read  that  Dr.  Blackwell,  an 
English  physician,  had  been  put  to  the  torture  in  Sweden.  Montes- 
quieu in  the  Esprit  des  Lois,w\.  17,  published  in  1748.  writing  of  'la 
question  ou  torture  contre  les  criminels,'  says : — •  Nous  voyons  au- 
jourd'hui  une  nation  tres-bien  policee  [la  nation  anglaise]  la  rejeter 
sans  inconvenient.  Elle  n'est  done  pas  necessaire  par  sa  nature.' 
Boswell  in  1765  found  that  Paoli  tortured  a  criminal  with  fire.  Cor- 
sua,  p.  158.  Voltaire,  in  1777,  after  telling  how  innocent  men  had 
been  put  to  death  with  torture  in  the  reign  of  Lewis  XIV,  continues 
— '  Mais  un  roi  a-t-il  le  temps  de  songer  a  ces  menus  details  d'hor- 
reurs  au  milieu  de  ses  fetes,  de  ses  conquetes,  et  de  ses  maitresses  ? 
Daignez  vous  en  occuper,  o  Louis  XVI,  vous  qui  n'avez  aucune  de  ces 
distractions  !'  Voltaire's  Works,  xxvi.  332.  Johnson,  two  years  before 
Voltaire  thus  wrote,  had  been  shown  la  c/tanibre  de  question — the  tort- 
ure-chamber— in  Paris.  Post,  Oct.  17,  1775.  It  was  not  till  the  Rev- 
olution that  torture  was  abolished  in  France.  One  of  the  Scotch 
judges  in  1793,  at  the  trial  of  Messrs.  Palmer  and  Muir  for  sedition 
{post,  June  3,  1 78 1,  note). '  asserted  that  now  the  torture  was  banished, 
there  was  no  adequate  punishment  for  sedition.'    Pari.  Hist,  xxx.  1 569. 

to 


Aetat. 54.]     Johnsons  relish  for  good  eating.  541 

to  an  accused  person  ;  for  no  man  is  put  to  the  torture  there, 
unless  there  is  as  much  evidence  against  him  as  would  amount 
to  conviction  in  England.  An  accused  person  among  you, 
therefore,  has  one  chance  more  to  escape  punishment,  than 
those  who  are  tried  among  us.' 

At  supper  this  night  he  talked  of  good  eating  with  uncom- 
mon satisfaction.  '  Some  people  (said  he,)  have  a  foolish 
way  of  not  minding,  or  pretending  not  to  mind,  what  they 
eat.  For  my  part,  I  mind  my  belly  very  studiously,  and  very 
carefully ;  for  I  look  upon  it,  that  he  who  does  not  mind  his 
belly  will  hardly  mind  anything  else'.'  He  now  appeared  to 
me  Jean  Bull  pJiilosoplic,  and  he  was,  for  the  moment,  not 
only  serious  but  vehement.  Yet  I  have  heard  him,  upon 
other  occasions,  talk  with  great  contempt  of  people  who 
were  anxious  to  gratify  their  palates  ;  and  the  206th  number 
of  his  Rambler  is  a  masterly  essay  against  gulosity^  His 
practice,  indeed,  I  must  acknowledge,  may  be  considered 
as  casting  the  balance  of  his  different  opinions  upon  this 


'  '  A  cheerful  and  good  heart  will  have  a  care  of  his  meat  and  drink.' 
Ecciest'ast/ais,  xxx.  25. 

'  Verecundari  neminem  apud  mensam  decet, 
Nam  ibi  de  divinis  atque  humanis  cemitur.' 

Tritmmimis,  act  2,  sc.  4. 
Mrs.  Piozzi  (Afur.  p.  149)  records  that  'Johnson  often  said,  "that 
wherever  the  dinner  is  ill  got,  there  is  poverty,  or  there  is  avarice,  or 
there  is  stupidity ;  in  short,  the  family  is  somehow  grossly  wrong ; 
for,"  continued  he,  "a  man  seldom  thinks  with  more  earnestness  of 
anything  than  he  does  of  his  dinner ;  and  if  he  cannot  get  that  well 
dressed,  he  should  be  suspected  of  inaccuracy  in  other  things." '  Yet 
he  '  used  to  say  that  a  man  who  rode  out  for  an  appetite  consulted  but 
little  the  dignity  of  human  nature.'    Johnson's  Works  (1787),  xi.  204. 

'  This  essay  is  more  against  the  practices  of  the  parasite  than  gu- 
losity.  It  is  entitled  T/ie  art  of  In'tng  at  the  cost  of  others.  Johnson 
wrote  to  one  of  Mrs.  Thrale's  children  : — '  Gluttony  is,  I  think,  less 
common  among  women  than  among  men.  Women  commonly  eat 
more  sparingly,  and  are  less  curious  in  the  choice  of  meat ;  but  if  once 
you  find  a  woman  gluttonous,  expect  from  her  very  little  virtue.  Her 
mind  is  enslaved  to  the  lowest  and  grossest  temptation.'  Piozzi  Let- 
ters, ii.  298. 

subject 


542  Johnson  s  relish  for  good  eating,      [a.d.  1703. 

subject ;  for  I  never  knew  any  man  who  relished  good  eating 
more  than  he  did.  When  at  table,  he  was  totally  absorbed 
in  the  business  of  the  moment  ;  his  looks  seemed  rivetted  to 
his  plate ;  nor  would  he,  unless  when  in  very  high  company, 
say  one  word,  or  even  pay  the  least  attention  to  what  was 
said  by  others,  till  he  had  satisfied  his  appetite',  which  was 
so  fierce,  and  indulged  with  such  intenseness,  that  while  in 
the  act  of  eating,  the  veins  of  his  forehead  swelled,  and  gen- 
erally a  strong  perspiration  was  visible".  To  those  whose 
sensations  were  delicate,  this  could  not  but  be  disgusting; 
and  it  was  doubtless  not  very  suitable  to  the  character  of  a 
philosopher,  who  should  be  distinguished  by  self-command. 
But  it  must  be  owned,  that  Johnson,  though  he  could  be 
rigidly  abstemious,  was  not  a  temperate  man  either  in  eating 
or  drinking.  He  could  refrain,  but  he  could  not  use  mod- 
erately'. He  told  me,  that  he  had  fasted  two  days  without 
inconvenience,  and  that  he  had  never  been  huilgry  but  once". 
They  who  beheld  with  wonder  how  much  he  eat  upon  all 
occasions  when  his  dinner  was  to  his  taste,  could  not  easily 


'  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  355)  mentions  'the  greediness  with  which  he 
ate,  his  total  inattention  to  those  among  whom  he  was  seated,  and  his 
profound  silence  at  the  moment  of  refection.' 

'-'  Cumberland  {Memoirs,  i.  357)  says: — 'He  fed  heartily,  but  not 
voraciously,  and  was  extremely  courteous  in  his  commendations  of 
any  dish  that  pleased  his  palate.' 

^  Johnson  wrote  to  Mrs.  Thrale  on  July  10,  1780: — '  Last  week  I  saw 
flesh  but  twice  and  I  think  fish  once ;  the  rest  was  pease.  You  are 
afraid,  you  say,  lest  I  extenuate  myself  too  fast,  and  are  an  enemy  to 
violence;  but  did  you  never  hear  nor  read,  dear  Madam,  that  every 
man  has  \\\% genius,  and  that  the  great  rule  by  which  all  excellence  is 
attained  and  all  success  procured,  is  to  ioWo^  genius ;  and  have  you 
not  observed  in  all  our  conversations  that  my  genius  is  always  in  ex- 
tremes ;  that  I  am  very  noisy  or  very  silent ;  very  gloomy  or  very 
merry ;  very  sour  or  very  kind  ?  And  would  you  have  me  cross  my 
genius  when  it  leads  me  sometimes  to  voracity  and  sometimes  to  ab- 
stinence ?'     Piozzi  Letters,  ii.  i66. 

*  'This,'  he  told  Boswell,  'was  no  intentional  fasting,  but  happened 
just  in  the  course  of  a  literary  life.'  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Oct.  4,  1773. 
See  post,  April  17,  1778. 

conceive 


Aetat.  54.]  A  cvitick  of  cookery.  543 


conceive  what  he  must  have  meant  by  hunger;  and  not  only 
was  he  remarkable  for  the  extraordinary  quantity  which  he 
eat,  but  he  was,  or  affected  to  be,  a  man  of  very  nice  discern- 
ment in  the  science  of  cookery.  He  used  to  descant  critically 
on  the  dishes  which  had  been  at  table  where  he  had  dined 
or  supped,  and  to  recollect  very  minutely  what  he  had  liked'. 
I  remember,  when  he  was  in  Scotland,  his  praising  'Gordon  s 
palates,'  (a  dish  of  palates  at  the  Honourable  Alexander  Gor- 
don's) with  a  warmth  of  expression  which  might  have  done 
honour  to  more  important  subjects.  '  As  for  Maclaurin's 
imitation  of  a  made  dish,  it  was  a  wretched  attempt".'  He 
about  the  same  time  was  so  much  displeased  with  the  per- 
formances of  a  nobleman's  French  cook,  that  he  exclaimed 
with  vehemence,  *  I'd  throw  such  a  rascal  into  the  river  ;'  and 
he  then  proceeded  to  alarm  a  lady  at  whose  house  he  was  to 
sup\  by  the  following  manifesto  of  his  skill :  '  I,  Madam,  who 
live  at  a  variety  of  good  tables,  am  a  much  better  judge  of 
cookery,  than  any  person  who  has  a  very  tolerable  cook,  but 
lives  much  at  home  ;  for  his  palate  is  gradually  adapted  to 
the  taste  of  his  cook ;  whereas,  Madam,  in  trying  by  a  wider 
range,  I  can  more  exquisitely  judge\'  When  invited  to  dine, 
even  with  an  intimate  friend,  he  was  not  pleased  if  some, 
thing  better  than  a  plain  dinner  was  not  prepared  for  him. 
I  have  heard  him  say  on  such  an  occasion,  '  This  was  a  good 

*  III  the  last  year  of  his  life,  when  he  knew  that  his  appetite  was 
diseased,  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Thrale : — '  I  have  now  an  inclination  to 
hixury  which  even  your  table  did  not  excite  ;  for  till  ncnu  7ny  talk  was 
7>torf  about  the  dishes  than  my  thoughts.  I  remember  you  commended 
me  for  seeming  pleased  with  my  dinners  when  you  had  reduced  your 
table ;  I  am  able  to  tell  you  with  great  veracity,  that  I  never  knew 
when  the  reduction  began,  nor  should  have  known  that  it  was  made, 
had  not  you  told  me.  /  now  think  and  considt  to-day  what  I  shall  eat 
to-tnorrow.      This  disease  will,  I  hope,  be  cured.'     Pioszi  Letters,  ii.  362. 

'  Johnson's  visit  to  Gordon  and  Maclaurin  are  just  mentioned  in 
Boswell's  Hebrides,  under  Nov.  11,  1773. 

'  The  only  nobleman  with  whom  he  dined  '  about  the  same  time ' 
was  Lord  Elibank.  After  dining  with  him,  '  he  supped,'  says  BosweH 
'with  my  wife  and  myself.'     lb. 

*  Steposf,  April  15,  t778. 

dinner 


544  Studied  behaviour.  [a. d.  1763. 

dinner  enough,  to  be  sure ;  but  it  was  not  a  dinner  to  ask  a 
man  to.'  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  wont  to  express,  with 
great  glee,  his  satisfaction  when  he  had  been  entertained 
quite  to  his  mind.  One  day  when  we  had  dined  with  his 
neighbour  and  landlord  in  Bolt-court,  Mr.  Allen,  the  printer, 
whose  old  housekeeper  had  studied  his  taste  in  every  thing, 
he  pronounced  this  eulogy  :  '  Sir,  we  could  not  have  had  a 
better  dinner  had  there  been  a  Synod  of  Cooks'! 

While  we  were  left  by  ourselves  after  the  Dutchman  liad 
gone  to  bed.  Dr.  Johnson  talked  of  that  studied  behaviour 
which  many  have  recommended  and  practised.  He  disap- 
proved of  it ;  and  said,  '  I  never  considered  whether  I  should 
be  a  grave  man,  or  a  merry  man,  but  just  let  inclination,  for 
the  time,  have  its  course*.' 

He  flattered  me  with  some  hopes  that  he  would,  in  the 
course  of  the  following  summer,  come  over  to  Holland,  and 
accompany  me  in  a  tour  through  the  Netherlands. 

I  teized  him  with  fanciful  apprehensions  of  unhappiness.  A 
moth  having  fluttered  round  the  candle,  and  burnt  itself,  he 
laid  hold  of  this  little  incident  to  admonish  me;  saying,  with  a 
sly  look,  and  in  a  solemn  but  quiet  tone,  '  That  creature  was 
its  own  tormentor,  and  I  believe  its  name  was  BOSWELL,' 

Next  day  we  got  to  Harwich  to  dinner ;  and  my  passage 

'  Mrs.  Piozzi  {Aiicc.  p.  102)  says,  'Johnson's  own  notions  about  eating 
were  nothing  less  than  delicate ;  a  leg  of  pork  boiled  till  it  dropped 
from  the  bone,  a  veal-pie  with  plums  and  sugar,  or  the  outside  cut  of 
a  salt  buttock  of  beef  were  his  favourite  dainties.'  Cradock  saw 
Burke  at  a  tavern  dinner  send  Johnson  a  very  small  piece  of  a  pie,  the 
crust  of  which  was  made  with  bad  butter.  '  Johnson  soon  returned 
his  plate  for  more.  Burke  exclaimed  : — "  I  am  glad  that  you  are  able 
so  well  to  relish  this  pie."  Johnson,  not  at  all  pleased  that  what  he 
ate  should  ever  be  noticed,  retorted: — "There  is  a  time  of  life.  Sir, 
when  a  man  requires  the  repairs  of  a  table."  '  Cradock's  Memoirs,  i. 
229.  A  passage  in  Baretti's  Italy,  ii.  316,  seems  to  show  that  English 
eating  in  general  was  not  delicate.  '  I  once  heard  a  Frenchman  swear,' 
he  writes,  '  that  he  hated  the  English  "  parce  qu'ils  versent  du  beurre 
fondu  sur  leur  veau  roti." ' 

'  '  He  had  an  abhorrence  of  affectation,'  said  Mr.  Langton.  Post, 
1780,  in  Mr.  Langton's  Collection. 

m 


Aetat.  54.]  Bishop  Berkeley  s  sophistry.  545 

in  the  packet-boat  to  Helvoetsluys  being  secured,  and  my 
baggage  put  on  board,  we  dined  at  our  inn  by  ourselves.  I 
happened  to  say  it  would  be  terrible  if  he  should  not  find  a 
speedy  opportunity  of  returning  to  London,  and  be  confined 
to  so  dull  a  place.  JOHNSON.  '  Don't,  Sir,  accustom  your- 
self to  use  big  words  for  little  matters'.  It  would  not  be  ter- 
rible^ though  I  were  to  be  detained  some  time  here,'  The 
practice  of  using  words  of  disproportionate  magnitude,  is,  no 
doubt,  too  frequent  everywhere  ;  but,  I  think,  most  remark- 
able among  the  French,  of  which,  all  who  have  travelled  in 
France  must  have  been  struck  with  innumerable  instances. 

We  went  and  looked  at  the  church,  and  having  gone  into 
it  and  walked  up  to  the  altar,  Johnson,  whose  piety  was  con- 
stant and  fervent,  sent  me  to  my  knees,  saying,  '  Now  that 
you  are  going  to  leave  your  native  country,  recommend  your- 
self to  the  protection  of  your  CREATOR  and  REDEEMER.' 

After  we  came  out  of  the  church,  we  stood  talking  for  some 
time  together  of  Bishop  Berkeley's  ingenious  sophistry  to 
prove  the  non-existence  of  matter,  and  that  every  thing  in 
the  universe  is  merely  ideal.  I  observed,  that  though  we  are 
satisfied  his  doctrine  is  not  true,  it  is  impossible  to  refute  it. 
I  never  shall  forget  the  alacrity  with  which  Johnson  answered, 
striking  his  foot  with  mighty  force  against  a  large  stone,  till 
he  rebounded  from  it,  '  I  refute  it  thus'.'  This  was  a  stout 
exemplification  of  the  first  truths  of  Perc  Boiifficr^,  or  the 
original  principles  of  Reid  and  of  Beattie  ;  without  admit- 
ting which,  we  can  no  more  argue  m  metaphysicks,  than  we 
can  argue  in  mathematicks  without  axioms.  To  me  it  is 
not    conceivable   how   Berkeley   can  be   answered   by  pure 


'  At  college  he  would  not  let  his  companions  sa.y  prodtgzoiis.  Post, 
April  17,  1778. 

^  See  post,  Sept.  19,  1777,  and  1780  in  Mr.  Langton's  Collection. 
Dugald  Stewart  quotes  a  saying  of  Turgot : — '  He  who  had  never 
doubted  of  the  existence  of  matter  might  be  assured  he  had  no  turn 
for  metaphysical  disquisitions.'     Lt/e  of  Reid,  p.  416. 

'  Claude  Buffier,  born  1661,  died  1737.  Author  of  Traits  des  pre- 
mieres veritis  et  de  la  source  de  nos  jugements. 

I. — 35  reasoning; 


546  Boswell  embarks  for  Holland.       [a.u.  1768. 


reasoning  ;  but  I  know  that  the  nice  and  difficult  task  was 
to  have  been  undertaken  by  one  of  the  most  luminous  minds 
of  the  present  age,  had  not  politicks  '  turned  him  from  calm 
philosophy  aside'.'  What  an  admirable  display  of  subtilty, 
united  with  brilliance,  might  his  contending  with  Berkeley 
have  afforded  us"!  How  must  we,  when  we  reflect  on  the 
loss  of  such  an  intellectual  feast,  regret  that  he  should  be 
characterised  as  the  man, 

'  Who  born  for  the  universe  narrow'd  his  mind, 
And  to  party  gave  up  what  was  meant  for  mankind'?' 

My  revered  friend  walked  down  with  me  to  the  beach, 
where  we  embraced  and  parted  with  tenderness,  and  engaged 
to  correspond  by  letters.  1  said,  '  I  hope,  Sir,  you  will  not 
forget  me  in  my  absence.'  JOHNSON.  '  Nay,  Sir,  it  is  more 
likely  you  should  forget  me,  than  that  I  should  forget  you.' 
As  the  vessel  put  out  to  sea,  I  kept  my  eyes  upon  him  for  a 
considerable  time,  while  he  remained  rolling  his  majestick 
frame  in  his  usual  manner:  and  at  last  I  perceived  him  walk 
back  into  the  town,  and  he  disappeared', 

'  '  Not  when  a  gilt  buffet's  reflected  pride 

Turns  you  from  sound  philosophy  aside.' 

Pope's  Satires,  ii.  5. 

"^  Mackintosh  (Life,  i.  71)  said  that  '  Burke's  treatise  on  the  Sublime 
and  Beautiful  is  rather  a  proof  that  his  mind  was  not  formed  for  pure 
philosophy;  and  if  we  may  believe  Boswell  that  it  was  once  the  inten- 
tion of  Mr.  Burke  to  have  written  against  Berkeley,  we  may  be  assured 
that  he  would  not  have  been  successful  in  answering  that  great  spec- 
ulator; or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  that  he  could  not  have  discovered 
the  true  nature  of  the  questions  in  dispute,  and  thus  have  atlorded 
the  only  answer  consistent  with  the  limits  of  the  human  faculties.' 

'  Goldsmith's  Retaliation. 

*  I  have  the  following  autograph  letter  written  by  Johnson  to  Dr. 
Taylor  three  weeks  after  Boswell's  departure. 

'  Dear  Sir, 

'  Having  with  some  impatience  reckoned  upon  hearing  from  you 
these  two  last  posts,  and  been  disappointed,  I  can  form  to  myself  no 
reason  for  the  omission  but  your  perturbation  of  mind,  or  disorder  of 
body  arising  from  it,  and  therefore  I  once  more  advise  removal  from 
Ashbourne  as  the  proper  remedy  both  for  the  cause  and  the  effect. 

Utrecht 


Aetat.  54.]      yohnsofts  first  letter  to  Boswell.  547 

Utrecht  seeming  at  first  very  dull  to  me,  after  the  animated 
scenes  of  London,  my  spirits  were  grievously  affected  ;  and  I 
wrote  to  Johnson  a  plaintive  and  desponding  letter,  to  which 
he  paid  no  regard.  Afterwards,  when  I  had  acquired  a  firmer 
tone  of  mind,  I  wrote  him  a  second  letter,  expressing  much 
anxiety  to  hear  from  him.  At  length  I  received  the  follow- 
ing epistle,  which  was  of  important  service  to  me,  and,  I  trust, 
will  be  so  to  many  others. 

*A  M.  M.  BoswELL,  X  LA  CouR  DE  l'Empereur,  Utrecht. 

'Dear  Sir, 

'  You  are  not  to  think  yourself  forgotten,  or  criminally  neg- 
lected, that  you  have  had  yet  no  letter  from  me.  I  love  to  see  my 
friends,  to  hear  from  them,  to  talk  to  them,  and  to  talk  of  them  ; 
but  it  is  not  without  a  considerable  effort  of  resolution  that  I  pre- 
vail  upon  myself  to  write.     I  would  not,  however,  gratify  my  own 


'  You  perhaps  ask.  whither  should  I  go  }  any  whither  where  your 
case  is  not  known,  and  where  your  presence  will  cause  neither  looks 
nor  whispers.  Where  you  are  the  necessary  subject  of  common  talk, 
you  will  not  safely  be  at  rest. 

'  If  you  cannot  conveniently  write  to  me  yourself  let  somebody 
write  for  you  to 

'  Dear  Sir, 

'  Your  most  affectionate, 
'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
•August  25,  1763. 
'  To  the  Reverend  Dr.  Taylor 

in  Ashbourne, 

Derbyshire." 
Five  other  letters  on  the  same  subject  are  given  in  Notes  and  Queries, 
6th  S.  V.  pp.  324,  342,  382.  Taylor  and  his  wife  '  never  lived  very  well 
together'  (p.  325),  and  at  last  she  left  him.  On  May  22nd  of  the  next 
year  Johnson  congratulated  Taylor  '  upon  the  happy  end  of  so  vexa- 
tious an  affair,  the  happyest  [sic]  that  could  be  next  to  reformation 
and  reconcilement '  (p.  382).  Taylor  did  not  follow  the  advice  to  leave 
Ashbourne ;  for  on  Sept.  3  Johnson  wrote  to  him  : — '  You  seem  to  be 
so  well  pleased  to  be  where  you  are,  that  I  shall  not  now  press  your 
removal ;  but  do  not  believe  that  every  one  who  rails  at  your  wife 
wishes  well  to  you.  A  small  country  town  is  not  the  place  in  which 
one  would  chuse  to  quarrel  with  a  wife ;  every  human  being  in  such 
places  is  a  spy.'     lb.  p.  343. 

indolence 


54^  yohnsons  first  letter  to  BoswelL      [a.d.  1763. 

indolence  by  the  omission  of  any  important  duty,  or  any  office  of 
real  kindness. 

'  To  tell  you  that  1  am  or  am  not  well,  that  I  have  or  have  not 
been  in  the  country,  that  I  drank  your  health  in  the  room  in  which 
we  sat  last  together,  and  that  your  acquaintance  continue  to  speak 
of  you  with  their  former  kindness,  topicks  with  which  those  letters 
are  commonly  filled  which  are  written  only  for  the  sake  of  writing, 
I  seldom  shall  think  worth  communicating ;  but  if  I  can  have  it  in 
my  power  to  calm  any  harassing  disquiet,  to  excite  any  virtuous 
desire,  to  rectify  any  important  opinion,  or  fortify  any  generous  res- 
olution, you  need  not  doubt  but  1  shall  at  least  wish  to  prefer  the 
pleasure  of  gratifying  a  friend  much  less  esteemed  than  yourself, 
before  the  gloomy  calm  of  idle  vacancy.  Whether  I  shall  easily 
arrive  at  an  exact  punctuality  of  correspondence,  1  cannot  tell.  I 
shall,  at  present,  expect  that  you  will  receive  this  in  return  for  two 
which  I  have  had  from  you.  The  first,  indeed,  gave  me  an  account 
so  hopeless  of  the  state  of  your  mind,  that  it  hardly  admitted  or 
deserved  an  answer ;  by  the  second  I  was  much  better  pleased : 
and  the  pleasure  will  still  be  increased  by  such  a  narrative  of  the 
progress  of  your  studies,  as  may  evince  the  continuance  of  an  equal 
and  rational  application  of  your  mind  to  some  useful  enquiry. 

'  You  will,  perhaps,  wish  to  ask,  what  study  I  would  recommend. 
I  shall  not  speak  of  theolog}^  because  it  ought  not  to  be  consid- 
ered as  a  question  whether  you  shall  endeavour  to  know  the  will 
of  God. 

'  I  shall,  therefore,  consider  only  such  studies  as  we  are  at  liberty 
to  pursue  or  to  neglect;  and  of  these  I  know  not  how  you  will 
make  a  better  choice,  than  by  studying  the  civil  law,  as  your  father 
advises,  and  the  ancient  languages,  as  you  had  determined  for 
yourself ;  at  least  resolve,  while  you  remain  in  any  settled  resi- 
dence, to  spend  a  certain  number  of  hours  every  day  amongst  your 
books.  The  dissipation  of  thought,  of  which  you  complain,  is 
nothing  more  than  the  vacillation  of  a  mind  suspended  between 
different  motives,  and  changing  its  direction  as  any  motive  gains 
or  loses  strength.  If  you  can  but  kindle  in  your  mind  any  strong 
desire,  if  you  can  but  keep  predominant  any  wish  for  some  partic- 
ular excellence  or  attainment,  the  gusts  of  imagination  will  break 
away,  without  any  effect  upon  your  conduct,  and  commonly  with- 
out any  traces  left  upon  the  memory. 

'  There  lurks,  perhaps,  in  every  human  heart  a  desire  of  distinc- 
tion, which  inclines  every  man  first  to  hope,  and  then  to  believe, 

that 


Aetat.  54.]  BoswelVs  character  sketched  by  Johfison.   549 

that  Nature  has  given  him  something  peculiar  to  himself.  This 
vanity  makes  one  mind  nurse  aversion,  and  another  actuate  desires, 
till  they  rise  by  art  much  above  their  original  state  of  power ;  and 
as  affectation,  in  time,  improves  to  habit,  they  at  last  tyrannise  over 
him  who  at  first  encouraged  them  only  for  show.  Every  desire  is 
a  viper  in  the  bosom,  who,  while  he  was  chill,  was  harmless  ;  but 
when  warmth  gave  him  strength,  exerted  it  in  poison.  You  know 
a  gentleman,  who,  when  first  he  set  his  foot  in  the  gay  world,  as  he 
prepared  himself  to  whirl  in  the  vortex  of  pleasure,  imagined  a 
total  indifference  and  universal  negligence  to  be  the  most  agree- 
able concomitants  of  youth,  and  the  strongest  indication  of  an  airy 
temper  and  a  quick  apprehension.  Vacant  to  every  object,  and 
sensible  of  every  impulse,  he  thought  that  all  appearance  of  dili- 
gence would  deduct  something  from  the  reputation  of  genius  ;  and 
hoped  that  he  should  appear  to  attain,  amidst  all  the  ease  of  care- 
lessness, and  all  the  tumult  of  diversion,  that  knowledge  and  those 
accomplishments  which  mortals  of  the  common  fabrick  obtain  only 
by  mute  abstraction  and  solitary  drudgery.  He  tried  this  scheme 
of  life  awhile,  was  made  weary  of  it  by  his  sense  and  his  virtue ; 
he  then  wished  to  return  to  his  studies  ;  and  finding  long  habits 
of  idleness  and  pleasure  harder  to  be  cured  than  he  expected,  still 
willing  to  retain  his  claim  to  some  extraordinary  prerogatives,  re- 
solved the  common  consequences  of  irregularity  into  an  unalter- 
able decree  of  destiny,  and  concluded  that  Nature  had  originally 
formed  him  incapable  of  rational  employment. 

'  Let  all  such  fancies,  illusive  and  destructive,  be  banished  hence- 
forward from  your  thoughts  for  ever.  Resolve,  and  keep  your  res- 
olution ;  choose,  and  pursue  your  choice.  If  you  spend  this  day 
in  study,  you  will  find  yourself  still  more  able  to  study  to-morrow ;' 
not  that  you  are  to  expect  that  you  shall  at  once  obtain  a  complete 
victory.  Depravity  is  not  very  easily  overcome.  Resolution  will 
sometimes  relax,  and  diligence  will  sometimes  be  interrupted ;  but 
let  no  accidental  surprise  or  deviation,  whether  short  or  long,  dis- 
pose you  to  despondency.  Consider  these  failings  as  incident  to 
aH  mankind.  Begin  again  where  you  left  off,  and  endeavour  to 
avoid  the  seducements  that  prevailed  over  you  before. 

'  This,  my  dear  Boswell,  is  advice  which,  perhaps,  has  been  often 
given  you,  and  given  you  without  effect.  But  this  advice,  if  you 
will  not  take  from  others,  you  must  take  from  your  own  reflections, 
if  you  purpose  to  do  the  duties  of  the  station  to  which  the  bounty 
©f  Providence  has  called  you. 

'Let 


550  The  Frisick  language.  [a.d.  1764. 


'  Let  me  have  a  long  letter  from  you  as  soon  as  you  can.  I  hope 
you  continue  your  journal,  and  enrich  it  with  many  observations 
upon  the  country  in  which  you  reside.  It  will  be  a  favour  if  you 
can  get  me  any  books  in  the  Frisick  language,  and  can  enquire 
how  the  poor  are  maintained  in  the  Seven  Provinces.  I  am,  dear 
Sir,  '  Your  most  affectionate  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

'  London,  Dec.  8,  1763.' 

I  am  sorry  to  observe,  that  neither  in  my  own  minutes,  nor 
in  my  letters  to  Johnson,  which  have  been  preserved  by  him, 
can  I  find  any  information  how  the  poor  are  maintained  in 
the  Seven  Provinces.  But  I  shall  extract  from  one  of  my 
letters  what  I  learnt  concerning  the  other  subject  of  his 
curiosity. 

'  I  have  made  all  possible  enquiry  with  respect  to  the  Frisick 
language,  and  find  that  it  has  been  less  cultivated  than  any  other 
of  the  northern  dialects  ;  a  certain  proof  of  which  is  their  deficiency 
of  books.  Of  the  old  Frisick  there  are  no  remains,  except  some 
ancient  laws  preserved  by  Schofanus  in  his  Bcschryvinge  van  die 
Heerlykheid  van  Friesland;  and  his  Historia  Frisica.  1  have  not 
yet  been  able  to  find  these  books.  Professor  Trotz,  who  formerly 
M'as  of  the  University  of  Vranyken  in  Friesland,  and  is  at  present 
preparing  an  edition  of  all  the  Frisick  laws,  gave  me  this  informa- 
tion. Of  the  modern  Frisick,  or  what  is  spoken  by  the  boors  at 
this  day,  I  have  procured  a  specimen.  It  is  Gisbert  jfapixs  Ryme- 
icrk,  which  is  the  only  book  that  they  have.  It  is  amazing,  that 
they  have  no  translation  of  the  bible,  no  treatises  of  devotion,  nor 
even  any  of  the  ballads  and  story-books  which  are  so  agreeable  to 
country  people.  You  shall  have  yapix  by  the  first  convenient  op- 
portunity. I  doubt  not  to  pick  up  Schotanus.  Mynheer  Trotz  has 
promised  me  his  assistance.' 

1764:  ^TAT.  55.] — Early  in  1764  Johnson  paid  a  visit  to 
the  Langton  family,  at  their  seat  of  Langton,  in  Lincolnshire, 
where  he  passed  some  time,  much  to  his  satisfaction'.     His 

'  According  to  Mrs.  Piozzi  {Anec.  p.  210)  he  was  accompanied  by 
his  black  servant  Frank.  '  I  must  have  you  know,  ladies,'  said  he, 
'that  Frank  has  carried  the  empire  of  Cupid  further  than  most  men. 
When  I  was  in  Lincolnshire  so  many  years  ago  he  attended  me 
thither ;  and  when  we  returned  home  together,  I  found  that  a  female 

friend 


Aetat.55.]  yohnson  s  visit  to  Langton,  551 

friend  Bennet  Langton,  it  will  not  be  doubted,  did  every 
thing  in  his  power  to  make  the  place  agreeable  to  so  illus- 
trious a  guest ,  and  the  elder  Mr.  Langton  and  his  lady,  being 
fully  capable  of  understanding  his  value,  were  not  wanting 
in  attention.  He,  however,  told  me,  that  old  Mr.  Langton, 
though  a  man  of  considerable  learning,  had  so  little  allow- 
ance to  make  for  his  occasional  '  laxity  of  talk','  that  because 
in  the  course  of  discussion  he  sometimes  mentioned  what 
might  be  said  in  favour  of  the  peculiar  tenets  of  the  Romish 
church,  he  went  to  his  grave  believing  him  to  be  of  that 
communion\ 

Johnson,  during  his  stay  at  Langton,  had  the  advantage  of 
a  good  library,  and  saw  several  gentlemen  of  the  neighbour- 
hood. I  have  obtained  from  Mr.  Langton  the  following  par- 
ticulars of  this  period. 

He  was  now  fully  convinced  that  he  could  not  have  been 
satisfied  with  a  country  living';  for,  talking  of  a  respectable 
clergyman  in  Lincolnshire,  he  observed,  '  This  man.  Sir,  fills 
up  the  duties  of  his  life  well.  I  approve  of  him,  but  could 
not  imitate  him.' 

To  a  lady  who  endeavoured  to  vindicate  herself  from 
blame  for  neglecting  social  attention  to  worthy  neighbours, 
by  saying,  '  I  would  go  to  them  if  it  would  do  them  any 
good,'  he  said,  '  What  good.  Madam,  do  you  expect  to  have 
in  your  power  to  do  them  ?  It  is  shewing  them  respect,  and 
that  is  doing  them  good.' 

So  socially  accommodating  was  he,  that  once  when  Mr. 
Langton  and  he  were  driving  together  in  a  coach,  and  Mr, 

haymaker  had  followed  him  to  London  for  love."  If  this  story  is  gen- 
erally true,  it  bears  the  mark  of  Mrs.  Piozzi's  usual  inaccuracy.  The 
visit  was  paid  early  in  the  year,  and  was  over  in  February ;  what  hay- 
makers were  there  at  that  season  ? 

'  Boswell  by  his  quotation  marks  refers,  I  think,  to  his  Hebrides, 
Oct.  24,  1773.  where  Johnson  says: — 'Nobody,  at  times,  talks  more 
laxly  than  I  do.'     See  ^\^o  post,  ii.  83. 

"  See  post,  April  26,  1776,  for  old  Mr.  Langton's  slowness  of  under- 
standing. 

^  See  ante,  i.  370,  371. 

Langton 


552  The  Literary  Club.  [a. d.  1764, 

Langton  complained  of  bciiiL;  sick,  lie  insistctl  that  they 
should  go  out  and  sit  on  the  back  of  it  in  the  open  air,  which 
they  did.  And  being  sensible  how  strange  the  appearance 
must  be,  observed,  that  a  countryman  whom  they  saw  in  a 
field,  would  probably  be  thinking,  '  If  these  two  madmen 
should  come  down,  what  would  become  of  me'?' 

Soon  after  his  return  to  London,  which  was  in  February, 
was  founded  that  Club  which  existed  long  without  a  name, 
but  at  Mr.  Garrick's  funeral  became  distinguished  b}'  the  title 
of  The  Literary  Club'.  Sir  Joshua  Re)'nolds  had  the 
merit  of  being  the  first  proposer  of  it'',  to  which  Johnson  ac- 
ceded, and  the  original  members  were,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
Dr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Edmund  Bucke,  Dr.  Nugent*,  Mr.  Beauclerk, 

*  Mr.  Best  {Memorials,  p.  65)  thus  writes  of  a  visit  to  Langton  :— 
'We  walked  to  the  top  of  a  very  steep  hill  behind  the  house.  Mr. 
Langton  said,  "  Poor  dear  Dr.  Johnson,  when  he  came  to  this  spot, 
turned  back  to  look  down  the  hill,  and  said  he  was  determined  to 
take  a  roll  down.  When  we  understood  what  he  meant  to  do,  we  en- 
deavoured to  dissuade  him  ;  but  he  was  resolute,  saying,  he  had  not 
had  a  roll  for  a  long  time;  and  taking  out  of  his  lesser  pockets  what- 
ever might  be  in  them,  and  laying  himself  parallel  with  the  edge  of 
the  hill,  he  actually  descended,  turning  himself  over  and  over  till  he 
came  to  the  bottom."  This  story  was  told  with  such  gravity,  and 
with  an  air  of  such  aflfectionate  remembrance  of  a  departed  friend, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  suppose  this  extraordinary  freak  an  invention 
of  Mr.  Langton.'    It  must  have  been  in  the  winter  that  he  had  this  roll. 

*  Boswell  himself  so  calls  it  in  a  letter  to  Temple  written  three  or 
four  months  after  Garrick's  death.  Letters  of  Boswe/l,  p.  242.  See 
also  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Aug.  25,  1773. 

'  Malone  says: — '  Reynolds  was  the  original  founder  of  our  Literary 
Club  about  the  year  1762,  the  first  thought  of  which  he  .started  to  Dr. 
Johnson  at  his  own  fireside.'  Prior's  Malone,  p.  434.  Mrs.  Piozzi 
(Afiee.  p.  122)  says: — 'Johnson  called  Reynolds  their  Romulus,  or  said 
somebody  else  of  the  company  called  him  so,  which  was  more  likely.' 
According  to  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  425)  the  Club  was  founded  in  the 
winter  of  1763,  i.  e.  1763-4. 

■*  Dr.  Nugent,  a  physician,  was  Burke's  father-in-law.  Macaulay 
{Essays,  i.  407)  says : — '  As  we  close  Boswell's  book,  the  club-room  is 
before  us,  and  the  table  on  which  stands  the  omelet  for  Nugent,  and 
the,  lemons  for  Johnson.'  It  was  from  Mrs.  Piozzi  that  Macaulay 
learnt  of  the  omelet.    Nugent  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  it  was  on 

Mr. 


Aetat.  55.]  The  Literary  Club.  553 

Mr.  Lan<^ton,  Dr.  Goldsmith,  Mr.  Chamicr',  and  Sir  John 
Hawkins".  They  met  at  the  Turk's  Head,  in  Gerrard-street, 
Soho,  one  evening  in  every  week,  at  seven,  and  generally  con- 
tinued their  conversation  till  a  pretty  late  hour".     This  club 


Friday  that  the  Club  before  long  came  to  meet.  We  may  assume 
that  he  Avould  not  on  that  day  eat  meat.  '  I  fancy,'  Mrs.  Piozzi  writes 
{Alice,  p.  122),  '  Dr.  Nugent  ordered  an  omelet  sometimes  on  a  Friday 
or  Saturday  night :  for  I  remember  Mr.  Johnson  felt  very  painful  sen- 
sations at  the  sight  of  that  dish  soon  after  his  death,  and  cried  : — "  Ah 
my  poor  dear  friend  !  I  shall  never  eat  omelet  with  thcc  again  !"  quite 
in  an  agony.'  Dr.  Nugent,  in  the  imaginary  college  at  St.  Andrews, 
was  to  be  the  professor  of  physic.     Boswell's  Hebrides,  Aug.  25,  1773. 

'  Mr.  Andrew  Chamier  was  of  Huguenot  descent,  and  had  been  a 
stock-broker.  He  was  a  man  of  liberal  education.  'He  acquired 
such  a  fortune  as  enabled  him,  though  young,  to  quit  business,  and 
become,  what  indeed  he  seemed  by  nature  intended  for,  a  gentleman.' 
Hawkins's  Johnson,  ^.  \22.  In  1764  he  was  Secretary  in  the  War 
Office.  In  1775  he  was  appointed  Under  Secretary  of  State.  Fors- 
ter's  Goldsmith,  \.  310.  He  was  to  be  the  professor  of  commercial 
politics  in  the  imaginary  college.  Johnson  passed  one  of  his  birth- 
days at  his  house  ;  post,  under  Sept.  9,  1779,  note. 

"^  '  It  was  Johnson's  intention,'  writes  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  423),  '  that 
their  number  should  not  exceed  nine.'  Nine  was  the  number  of  the 
Ivy  Lane  Club  {ante,  p.  220).  Johnson,  I  suppose,  looked  upon  nine 
as  the  most  cliibable  number.  *  It  was  intended,' says  Dr.  Percy,  'that 
if  only  two  of  these  chanced  to  meet  for  the  evening,  they  should  be 
able  to  entertain  each  other.'  Goldsmith's  Misc.  Works,  i.  70.  Haw- 
kins adds  that  'Mr.  Dyer  {post,  1780,  in  Mr.  Langton's  Collection),  a 
member  of  the  Ivy  Lane  Club,  who  for  some  years  had  been  abroad, 
made  his  appearance  among  us,  and  was  cordially  received.*  Accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Percy,  by  1768  not  only  had  Hawkins  formally  withdrawn, 
but  Beauclerk  had  forsaken  the  club  for  more  fashionable  ones. 
'Upon  this  the  Club  agreed  to  increase  their  number  to  twelve; 
every  new  member  was  to  be  elected  by  ballot,  and  one  black  ball 
was  sufficient  for  exclusion.  Mr.  Beauclerk  then  desired  to  be  re- 
stored to  the  Society,  and  the  following  new  members  were  introduced 
on  Monday,  Feb.  15,  1768:  Sir  R.  Chambers,  Dr.  Percy  and  Mr.  Col- 
man.*  Goldsmith's  Misc.  U^or/cs,  i.  72.  In  the  list  in  Croker's  Bosiucll, 
ed.  1844,  ii.  326,  the  election  of  Percy  and  Chambers  is  placed  in  1765. 

"  Boswell  wrote  on  April  4,  1775:— 'I  dine,  Friday,  at  the  Turk's 
Head,  Gerrard-street,  with  our  Club,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  etc.,  who 
now  dine  once  a  month,  and  sup  every  Friday.'     Letters  of  Boswell, 

has 


554  Zz'j/  of  the  member's.  [a.d.17G4. 


has  been  gradually  increased  to  its  present  number,  thirty- 
five'.  After  about  ten  years,  instead  of  supping  weekly,  it 
was  resolved  to  dine  together  once  a  fortnight  during  the 
meeting  of  Parliament.  Their  original  tavern  having  been 
converted  into  a  private  house,  they  moved  first  to  Prince's 
in  Sackvillc-strcet,  then  to  Le  Telier's  in  Dover-street,  and 
now  meet  at  Parsloe's,  St.  James's-street^  Between  the  time 
of  its  formation,  and  the  time  at  which  this  work  is  passing 
through  the  press,  (June  1792,)'  the  following  persons,  now 
dead,  were  members  of  it :  Mr.  Dunning,  (afterwards  Lord 
Ashburton,)  Mr.  Samucil  Dyer,  Mr.  Garrick,  Dr.  Shipley 
Bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  Mr.  Vesey,  Mr.  Thomas  Warton  and 
Dr.  Adam  Smith.  The  present  members  are, — Mr.  Burke, 
Mr.  Langton,  Lord  Charlemont,  Sir  Robert  Chambers,  Dr. 
Percy  Bishop  of  Dromore,  Dr.  Barnard  Bishop  of  Killaloe, 
Dr.  Marlay  Bishop  of  Clonfert,  Mr.  Fox,  Dr.  George  Fordyce, 
Sir  William  Scott,  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  Sir  Charles  Bunbury, 
Mr.  Windham  of  Norfolk,  Mr.  Sheridan,  Mr.  Gibbon,  Sir 
William  Jones,  Mr.  Colman,  Mr.  Steevens,  Dr.  Burney,  Dr. 
Joseph  Warton,  Mr.  Malone,  Lord   Ossory,  Lord   Spencer, 


p.  186.  In  1766,  Monday  was  the  night  of  meeting.  Posf,  May  10, 
1766.  In  Dec.  1772  the  night  was  changed  to  Friday.  Goldsmith's 
Misc.  Works,  i.  72.  Hawkins  says  {Life,  pp.  424,  5 ) : — '  We  seldom  got 
together  till  nine  ;  preparing  supper  took  up  till  ten  ;  and  by  the  time 
that  the  table  was  cleared,  it  was  near  eleven.  Our  evening  toast 
was  the  motto  of  Padre  Paolo,  Esto  pcrpctna.'  Esio  pcrpeiiia  was  not 
Padre  Paolo's  motto,  but  his  dying  prayer.  '  As  his  end  evidently  ap- 
proached, the  brethren  of  the  convent  came  to  pronounce  the  last 
prayers,  with  which  he  could  only  join  in  his  thoughts,  being  able  to 
pronounce  no  more  than  these  words,  "  Esto  perpetua,"  mayst  thou  last 
for  ever ;  which  was  understood  to  be  a  prayer  for  the  prosperity  of 
his  country.'     Johnson's  IVorks,  vi.  269. 

'  See  posf,  March  14,  1777. 

'  'After  1783  it  removed  to  Prince's,  in  Sackville-street,  and  on  his 
house  being  soon  afterwards  shut  up,  it  removed  to  Baxter's,  which 
subsequently  became  Thomas's,  in  Dover-street.  In  Januarys  1792  it 
removed  to  Parsloe's,  in  St.  James 's-street ;  and  on  February  26,  1799, 
to  the  Thatched-house  in  the  same  street.'     Forster's  GoldsiiiitJi,  i.  31 1 . 

'  The  second  edition  is  here  spoken  of.     Malone. 

Lord 


Aetat.  55.]      Garrick  and  the  I^iterary  Club.  555 

Lord  Lucan,  Lord  Palmerston,  Lord  Eliot,  Lord  Macartney, 
Mr,  Richard  Burke  junior,  Sir  William  Hamilton,  Dr.  War- 
ren, Mr.  Courtenay,  Dr.  Hinchcliffe  Bishop  of  Peterborough, 
the  Duke  of  Leeds,  Dr.  Douglas  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  and 
the  writer  of  this  account. 

Sir  John  Hawkins'  represents  himself  as  a  ^ seceder'  from 
this  society,  and  assigns  as  the  reason  of  his  ^  ivithdr awing' 
himself  from  it,  that  its  late  hours  were  inconsistent  with  his 
domestick  arrangements.  In  this  he  is  not  accurate;  for  the 
fact  was,  that  he  one  evening  attacked  Mr.  Burke,  in  so  rude 
a  manner,  that  all  the  company  testified  their  displeasure ; 
and  at  their  next  meeting  his  reception  was  such,  that  he 
never  came  again*. 

He  is  equally  inaccurate  with  respect  to  Mr.  Garrick,  of 
whom  he  says,  '  he  trusted  that  the  least  intimation  of  a  de- 
sire to  come  among  us,  would  procure  him  a  ready  admis- 
sion ;  but  in  this  he  was  mistaken.  Johnson  consulted  me 
upon  it ;  and  when  I  could  find  no  objection  to  receiving 
him,  exclaimed, — "  He  will  disturb  us  by  his  buffoonery;" — 
and  afterwards  so  managed  matters  that  he  was  never  for- 
mally proposed,  and,  by  consequence,  never  admitted\' 

'  Life  of  Johnson,  p.  425.     Boswell. 

^  From  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  Boswell.  The  Knight  having  re- 
fused to  pay  his  portion  of  the  reckoning  for  supper,  because  he 
usually  eat  no  supper  at  home,  Johnson  observed,  '  Sir  John,  Sir,  is  a 
very  unclubahh-  man.'  BURNEV.  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  231)  says  that 
'  Mr.  Dyer  had  contracted  a  fatal  intimacy  with  some  persons  of  des- 
perate fortunes,  who  were  dealers  in  India  stock,  at  a  time  when  the 
affairs  of  the  company  were  in  a  state  of  fluctuation.'  Malone,  com- 
menting on  this  passage,  says  that  'under  the.se  words  Mr.  Burke  is 
darkly  alluded  to,  together  with  his  cousin.'  He  adds  that  the  char- 
acter given  of  Dyer  by  Hawkins  '  is  di.scoloured  by  the  malignant 
prejudices  of  that  shallow  writer,  who.  having  quarrelled  with  Mr. 
Burke,  carried  his  enmity  even  to  Mr.  Burke's  friends.'  Prior's  Ma- 
lone, p.  419.  See  also  ante,  p.  31.  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  420)  said  of  Gold- 
smith : — '  As  he  wrote  for  the  booksellers,  we  at  the  Club  looked  on  him 
as  a  mere  literary  drudge,  equal  to  the  task  of  compiling  and  translat- 
ing, but  little  capable  of  original,  and  still  less  of  poetical  composition.' 

^  Life  if  Jii/inson,  \).  425.     BoswKi.L.     Hawkins  is  "equally  inaccu- 

In 


556  Garrick  and  the  Literary  Club.      [a. d.  1764. 

In  justice  both  to  Mr.  Garrick  and  Dr.  Johnson,  I  think  it 
necessary  to  rectify  this  mis-statement.  The  truth  is,  that 
not  very  long  after  the  institution  of  our  club.  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds  was  speaking  of  it  to  Garrick.  '  I  like  it  much, 
(said  he,)  I  think  1  shall  be  of  you.'  When  Sir  Joshua  men- 
tioned this  to  Dr.  Johnson,  he  was  much  displeased  with  the 
actor's  conceit.  'Hell  be  0/713,  (said  Johnson)  how  does  he 
know  we  will  penult  him  ?  The  first  Duke  in  England  has 
no  right  to  hold  such  language.'  However,  when  Garricl^ 
was  regularly  proposed  some  time  afterwards,  Johnson, 
though  he  had  taken  a  momentary  offence  at  his  arrogance, 
warmly  and  kindly  supported  him.,  and  he  was  accordingly 
elected,  was  a  most  agreeable  member,  and  continued  to  at- 
tend our  meetings  to  the  time  of  his  death. 

Mrs.  Piozzi'  has  also  given  a  similar  misrepresentation  of 
Johnson's  treatment  of  Garrick  in  this  particular,  as  if  he  had 
used  these  contemptuous  expressions :  'If  Garrick  does  apply, 
I'll  black-ball  him.  Surely,  one  ought  to  sit  in  a  society  like 
ours, 

"Unelbow'd  by  a  gamester,  pimp,  or  player^"  ' 

I  am  happy  to  be  enabled  by  such  unquestionable  author- 
ity as  that  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  as  well  as  from  my  own 
knowledge,  to  vindicate  at  once  the  heart  of  Johnson  and 
the  social  merit  of  Garrick\ 


rate'  in  saying  'that  Johnson  was  so  constant  at  our  meetings  as 
never  to  absent  himself.'  (I/>.  p.  424.)  See  post,  Johnson's  letter  to 
Langton  of  March  9,  1766.  where  he  says: — 'Dyer  is  constant  at  the 
Club;  Hawkins  is  remiss;  I  am  not  over  diligent.' 

'  Letters  to  and  from  Dr.  Johnso7i.  Vol.  ii.  p.  278  [387].  Boswell. 
The  passage  is  as  follows  : — ' "  If  he  does  apply,"  says  our  Doctor  to 
Mr.  Thrale,  "I'll  black-ball  him."  "Who,  Sir?  Mr.  Garrick,  your 
friend,  your  companion,  —  black-ball  him!"  "Why,  Sir,  I  love  my 
little  David  dearly,  better  than  all  or  any  of  his  flatterers  do,  but  sure- 
ly one  ought,  &c."' ' 

"  Pope's  Moral  Essays,  iii.  242. 

^  Malone  says  that  it  was  from  him  that  Boswell  had  his  account 
of  Garrick's  election,  and  that  he  had  it  from  Reynolds.  He  adds 
that  '  Johnson  warmly  supported   Garrick,  being   in   reality  a  very 

In 


Aetat.55.]  Grainger s  Sugar  Cane.  557 

In  this  year,  except  what  he  may  have  done  in  revis- 
ing SJiakspeare,  we  do  not  find  that  he  laboured  much  in 
literature.  He  wrote  a  review  of  Grainger's  Sugar  Cane, 
a  Pooh,  in  the  London  Chronicle.  He  told  me,  that  Dr. 
Percy  wrote  the  greatest  part  of  this  review ;  but,  I  im- 
agine, he  did  not  recollect  it  distinctly,  for  it  appears  to  be 
mostly,  if  not  altogether,  his  own'.     He  also  wrote  in  The 


tender  affectionate  man.  He  was  merely  offended  at  the  actor's 
conceit.'  He  continues  : — '  On  the  former  part  of  this  story  it  prob- 
ably was  that  Hawkins  grounded  his  account  that  Garrick  never  was 
of  the  Club,  and  that  Johnson  said  he  never  ought  to  be  of  it.  And 
thus  it  is  that  this  stupid  biographer,  and  the  more  flippant  and  mali- 
cious Mrs.  Piozzi  have  miscoloured  and  misrepresented  almost  every 
anecdote  that  they  have  pretended  to  tell  of  Dr.  Johnson."  Prior's 
Malone,  p.  392.  Whatever  was  the  slight  cast  upon  Garrick,  he  was 
nevertheless  the  sixth  new  member  elected.  Four,  as  I  have  shown, 
were  added  by  1768.  The  next  elections  were  in  1773  (Croker's  Bos- 
wcll,  ed.  1844,  ii.  326),  when  five  were  added,  of  whom  Garrick  was  the 
second,  and  Boswell  the  fifth.  In  1774  five  more  were  elected,  among 
whom  were  Fox  and  Gibbon.  Hannah  More  (Mt-moirs,  i.  249)  says 
that  '  upon  Garrick's  death,  when  numberless  applications  were  made 
to  succeed  him  [in  the  Club],  Johnson  was  deaf  to  them  all.  He  said, 
"  No,  there  never  could  be  found  any  successor  worthy  of  such  a 
man ;"  and  he  insisted  upon  it  there  should  be  a  year's  widowhood 
in  the  club,  before  they  thought  of  a  new  election.' 

'Grainger  wrote  to  Percy  on  April  6,  1764: — 'Sam.  Johnson  says 
he  will  review  it  in  T/te  Critical.  In  August  1765,  he  wrote: — '  I  am 
perfectly  satisfied  with  the  reception  the  Sugar  Cane  has  met  with, 
and  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  and  Mr.  Johnson  for  the  generous  care 
you  took  of  it  in  my  absence.'  Prior's  Goldsmith,  i.  238.  He  was  ab- 
sent in  the  West  Indies.  He  died  on  Dec.  16,  1766.  lb.  p.  241.  The 
review  of  the  Sugar  Cane  in  the  Critical  Review  (p.  270)  is  certainly 
by  Johnson.  The  following  passage  is  curious:  —  'The  last  book 
begins  with  a  striking  invocation  to  the  genius  of  Africa,  and  goes 
on  to  give  proper  instructions  for  the  buying  and  choice  of  negroes. 
.  .  .  The  poet  talks  of  this  ungenerous  commerce  without  the  least 
appearance  of  detestation ;  but  proceeds  to  direct  these  purchasers 
of  their  fellow-creatures  with  the  same  indifference  that  a  groom 
would  give  instructions  for  choosing  a  horse. 

'  Clear  roll  their  ample  eye ;  their  tongue  be  red  ; 
Broad  swell  their  chest ;  their  shoulders  wide  expand ; 

Critical 


558  Johnsons  self -accusations.  [a.d.  1764. 

Critical  Review,  an  accountf  of  Goldsmith's  excellent  poem, 
The  Travcller\ 

The  ease  and  independence  to  which  he  had  at  last  at- 
tained by  royal  munificence,  increased  his  natural  indolence. 
In  his  Meditations  he  thus  accuses  himself : — 

'Good  Friday,  April  20,  1764. — I  have  made  no  reformation; 
I  have  lived  totally  useless,  more  sensual  in  thought,  and  more  ad- 
dicted to  wine  and  meat^' 

And  next  morning  he  thus  feelingly  complains: — 

'  My  indolence,  since  my  last  reception  of  the  sacrament,  has 
sunk  into  grosser  sluggishness,  and  my  dissipation  spread  into 
wilder  negligence.  My  thoughts  have  been  clouded  with  sensual- 
ity ;  and,  except  that  from  the  beginning  of  this  year  I  have,  in 
some  measure,  forborne  excess  of  strong  drink,  my  appetites  have 
predominated  over  my  reason.  A  kind  of  strange  oblivion  has 
overspread  me,  so  that  I  know  not  what  has  become  of  the  last 
year ;  and  perceive  that  incidents  and  intelligence  pass  over  me, 
without  leaving  any  impression.' 

He  then  solemnly  says, 

'This  is  not  the  life  to  which  heaven  is  promised';' 

and  he  earnestly  resolves  an  amendment. 

It  was  his  custom  to  observe  certain  days  with  a  pious 
abstraction  ;  viz.  New-year's-day,  the  day  of  his  wife's  death, 
Good  Friday,  Easter-day,  and  his  own  birth-day.  He  this 
year  says*: — 'I  have  now  spent  fifty-five  years  in  resolving; 

Not  prominent  their  belly ;  clean  and  strong 
Their  thighs  and  legs  in  just  proportion  rise.' 

See  also/<75/,  March  21,  1776. 

'  Johnson  thus  ends  his  brief  review : — 'Such  is  the  poem  on  which 

we  now  congratulate  the  public  as  on  a  production  to  which,  since 

the  death  of  Pope,  it  will  not  be  easy  to  find  anything  equal.'    Critical 

Rtrc'iew,  p.  462. 

*  Pr.  and  Med.  p.  50.     BoswELL.     He  adds  : — 

'  I  hope 

To  put  my  rooms  in  order. 

Disorder  I  have  found  one  great  cause  of  idleness.' 

*  //-.  p.  51.       BOSWELL. 

*  It  was  on  his  birth-day  that  he  said  this.     He  wrote  on  the  same 

having, 


Aetat.  55.]     A  severe  attack  of  hypocho7idria.  559 

having,  from  the  earhest  time  almost  that  I  can  remember, 
been  forming  schemes  of  a  better  life.  I  have  done  nothing. 
The  need  of  doing,  therefore,  is  pressing,  since  the  time  of 
doing  is  short.  O  GoD,  grant  me  to  resolve  aright,  and  to 
keep  my  resolutions,  for  jESUS  Christ's  sake.     Amen'.' 

Such  a  tenderness  of  conscience,  such  a  fervent  desire  of 
improvement,  will  rarely  be  found.  It  is,  surely,  not  decent 
in  those  who  are  hardened  in  indifference  to  spiritual  improve- 
ment, to  treat  this  pious  anxiety  of  Johnson  with  contempt. 

About  this  time  he  was  afflicted  with  a  ver}'  severe  return 
of  the  hypochondriack  disorder,  which  was  ever  lurking  about 
him.  He  was  so  ill,  as,  notwithstanding  his  remarkable  love 
of  company,  to  be  entirely  averse  to  society,  the  most  fatal 
symptom  of  that  malady.  Dr.  Adams  told  me,  that  as  an 
old  friend  he  was  admitted  to  visit  him,  and  that  he  found 
him  in  a  deplorable  state,  sighing,  groaning,  talking  to  him- 
self, and  restlessly  walking  from  room  to  room.  He  then 
used  this  emphatical  expression  of  the  misery  which  he  felt : 
'  I  would  consent  to  have  a  limb  amputated  to  recover  my 
spirits".' 

Talking  to  himself  was,  indeed,  one  of  his  singularities  ever 
since  I  knew  him.  I  was  certain  that  he  was  frequently 
uttering  pious  ejaculations ;  for  fragments  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  have  been  distinctly  overheard \  His  friend  Mr. 
Thomas  Davies,  of  whom  Churchill  says, 


day : — •'  I  have  outlived  many  friends.  I  have  felt  many  sorrows.  I 
have  made  few  improvements." 

'  Prayers  and  Meditations,  p.  58.  Boswell.  In  his  Vision  of 
Theodore  (  Works,  ix.  174)  he  describes  the  state  of  mind  which  he 
has  recorded  in  his  Meditations : — '  There  were  others  whose  crime 
it  was  rather  to  neglect  Reason  than  to  disobey  her;  and  who  re- 
treated from  the  heat  and  tumult  of  the  way,  not  to  the  bowers  of 
Intemperance,  but  to  the  maze  of  Indolence.  They  had  this  peculi- 
arity in  their  condition,  that  they  were  always  in  sight  of  the  road  of 
Reason,  always  wishing  for  her  presence,  and  always  resolving  to  re- 
turn to-morrow.' 

'  See  Appendix  F. 

'  It  used  to  be  imagined  at  Mr.  Thrale's,  when  Johnson  retired  to  a 

'That 


560  yoJnisoiis  particularities.  [a. d.  1764. 


'  That  Davies  hath  a  very  pretty  wife',' 

when  Dr.  Johnson  muttered  '  lead  us  not  into  temptation,' 
used  with  waggish  and  gallant  humour  to  whisper  Mrs. 
Davies, '  You,  my  dear,  are  the  cause  of  this.' 

He  had  another  particularity,  of  which  none  of  his  friends 
ever  ventured  to  ask  an  explanation".  It  appeared  to  me 
some  superstitious  habit,  w  hich  he  had  contracted  early,  and 


window  or  corner  of  the  room,  by  perceivintj  his  lips  in  motion,  and 
liearing  a  murmur  without  audible  articulation,  that  he  was  praying : 
but  this  was  not  ahuays  the  case,  for  I  was  once,  perhaps  unperceived 
by  him,  writing  at  a  table,  so  near  th€  place  of  his  retreat,  that  I  heard 
him  repeating  some  lines  in  an  ode  of  Horace,  over  and  over  again, 
as  if  by  iteration,  to  exercise  the  organs  of  speech,  and  fix  the  ode  in 
his  memory; 

Audiet  chfes  acuisse  ferritm 
Quo  graves  Persse  melius  perirent, 
Audiet  pugnas.  .  .  .  Odes,  i.  2.  21. 

['  Our  sons  shall  hear,  shall  hear  to  latest  times, 
Of  Roman  arms  with  civil  gore  imbrued, 
Which  better  had  the  Persian  foe  subdued.' 

Frafieis.] 
It  was  during  the  American  War.  Burnev.  Boswell  in  his  Hebrides 
(Oct.  12,  1773)  records,  '  Dr.  Johnson  is  often  uttering  pious  ejacula- 
tions, when  he  appears  to  be  talking  to  himself,  for  sometimes  his 
voice  grows  stronger,  and  parts  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  are  heard.'  In 
the  same  passage  he  describes  other  '  particularities,' and  adds  in  a 
note : — '  It  is  remarkable  that  Dr.  Johnson  should  have  read  this  ac- 
count of  some  of  his  own  peculiar  habits,  without  saying  anything  on 
the  subject,  which  I  hoped  he  would  have  done.'  S&e  post,  Dec.  1784, 
note. 

'  Churchill's  Poems,  i.  16.     See  nu/e,  p.  452. 

■•*  '  It  is  in  vain  to  try  to  find  a  meaning  in  every  one  of  his  particu- 
larities, which,  I  suppose,  are  mere  habits  contracted  by  chance ;  of 
which  every  man  has  some  that  are  more  or  less  remarkable.'  Bos- 
well's  Hebrides,  Oct.  1 2,  1 773.  '  The  love  of  symmetry  and  order,  which 
is  natural  to  the  mind  of  man,  betrays  him  sometimes  into  ver}'  whim- 
sical fancies.  "This  noble  principle,"  says  a  French  author,  "  loves 
to  amuse  itself  on  the  most  trifling  occasions.  You  may  .see  a  pro- 
found philosopher,"  says  he,  "  walk  for  an  hour  together  in  his  cham- 
ber, and  industriously  treading  at  every  step  upon  every  other  board 
in  the  flooring."  '     The  Spectator,  No,  632, 

from 


Aetat.55.j  yoJinsous  particularities.  561 

from  which  he  had  never  called  upon  his  reason  to  disen- 
tangle him.  This  was  his  anxious  care  to  go  out  or  in  at  a 
door  or  passage  by  a  certain  number  of  steps  from  a  certain 
point,  or  at  least  so  as  that  either  his  right  or  his  left  foot, 
(I  am  not  certain  which,)  should  constantly  make  the  first 
actual  movement  when  he  came  close  to  the  door  or  passage. 
Thus  I  conjecture  :  for  I  have,  upon  innumerable  occasions, 
observed  him  suddenly  stop,  and  then  seem  to  count  his 
steps  with  a  deep  earnestness ;  and  when  he  had  neglected 
or  gone  wrong  in  this  sort  of  magical  movement,  I  have  seen 
him  go  back  again,  put  himself  in  a  proper  posture  to  begin 
the  ceremony,  and,  having  gone  through  it,  break  from  his 
abstraction,  walk  briskly  on,  and  join  his  companion".  A 
strange  instance  of  something  of  this  nature,  even  when  on 
horseback,  happened  when  he  was  in  the  isle  of  Sky^  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds  has  observed  him  to  go  a  good  way  about, 
rather  than  cross  a  particular  alley  in  Leicester-fields ;  but 
this  Sir  Joshua  imputed  to  his  having  had  some  disagreeable 
recollection  associated  with  it. 

That  the  most  minute  singularities  which  belonged  to  him, 
and  made  very  observable  parts  of  his  appearance  and  man- 
ner, may  not  be  omitted,  it  is  requisite  to  mention,  that  while 
talking  or  even  musing  as  he  sat  in  his  chair,  he  commonly 

'  Mr.  S.  Whyte  {M/sce/Iafwa  A'tnui,  p.  49)  tells  how  from  old  Mr. 
Sheridan's  house  in  Bedford-street,  opposite  Henrietta-street,  with  an 
opera-glass  he  watched  Johnson  approaching.  '  I  perceived  him  at  a 
good  distance  working  along  with  a  peculiar  solemnity  of  deportment, 
and  an  awkward  sort  of  measured  step.  Upon  every  post  as  he  passed 
along,  he  deliberately  laid  his  hand ;  but  missing  one  of  them,  when 
he  had  got  at  some  distance,  he  seemed  suddenly  to  recollect  himself, 
and  immediately  returning  carefully  performed  the  accustomed  cere- 
mony, and  resumed  his  former  course,  not  omitting  one  till  he  gained 
the  crossing.  This,  Mr.  Sheridan  assured  me,  was  his  constant  prac- 
tice.' 

'  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  3rd  edit.  p.  316.  Boswell. 
'The  day  that  we  left  Talisker,  he  bade  us  ride  on.  He  then  turned 
the  head  of  his  horse  back  towards  Talisker,  stopped  for  some  time ; 
then  wheeled  round  to  the  same  direction  with  ours,  and  then  came 
briskly  after  us.'     Boswell's  Hebrides,  Oct.  12,  1773. 

I.— 36  held 


562  Illness  of  JosJuia  Reynolds.  [a.d.  1764. 

held  his  head  to  one  side  towards  his  right  shoulder,  and 
shook  it  in  a  tremulous  manner,  moving  his  body  backwards 
and  forwards,  and  rubbing  his  left  knee  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, with  the  palm  of  his  hand.  In  the  intervals  of  articu- 
lating he  made  various  sounds  with  his  mouth,  sometimes  as 
if  ruminating,  or  what  is  called  chewing  the  cud,  sometimes 
giving  a  half  whistle,  sometimes  making  his  tongue  play 
backwards  from  the  roof  of  his  mouth,  as  if  clucking  like  a 
hen,  and  sometimes  protruding  it  against  his  upper  gums  in 
front,  as  if  pronouncing  quickly  under  his  breath,  too,  too,  too : 
all  this  accompanied  sometimes  with  a  thoughtful  look,  but 
more  frequently  with  a  smile.  Generally  when  he  had  con- 
cluded a  period,  in  the  course  of  a  dispute,  by  which  time  he 
was  a  good  deal  exhausted  by  violence  and  vociferation,  he 
used  to  blow  out  his  breath  like  a  Whale.  This  I  supposed 
was  a  relief  to  his  lungs  ;  and  seemed  in  him  to  be  a  con- 
temptuous mode  of  expression,  as  if  he  had  made  the  argu- 
ments of  his  opponent  fly  like  chaff  before  the  wind. 

I  am  fully  aware  how  v^xy  obvious  an  occasion  I  here  give 
for  the  sneering  jocularity  of  such  as  have  no  relish  of  an 
exact  likeness ;  which  to  render  complete,  he  who  draws  it 
must  not  disdain  the  slightest  strokes.  But  if  witlings  should 
be  inclined  to  attack  this  account,  let  them  have  the  candour 
to  quote  what  I  have  offered  in  my  defence. 

He  was  for  some  time  in  the  summer  at  Easton  Maudit, 
Northamptonshire,  on  a  visit  to  the  Reverend  Dr.  Percy,  now 
Bishop  of  Dromore.  Whatever  dissatisfaction  he  felt  at 
what  he  considered  as  a  slow  progress  in  intellectual  im- 
provement, we  find  that  his  heart  was  tender,  and  his  affec- 
tions warm,  as  appears  from  the  following  veiy  kind  letter: 

*To  Joshua  Reynolds,  Esq.,  in  Leicester-fields,  London. 

'  Dear  Sir, 

'  I  did  not  hear  of  your  sickness  till  I  heard  likewise  of  your 
recovery,  and  therefore  escaped  that  part  of  your  pain,  which 
every  man  must  feel,  to  whom  you  are  known  as  you  are  known 
to  me. 

'  Having  had  no  particular  account  of  your  disorder,  I  know  not 

in 


Aetat.  56.]  Johfison  at  Cambridge.  563 


in  what  state  it  has  left  you.  If  the  amusement  of  my  company 
can  exhilarate  the  languor  of  a  slow  recovery,  I  will  not  delay  a 
day  to  come  to  you  ;  for  I  know  not  how  I  can  so  effectually  pro- 
mote my  own  pleasure  as  by  pleasing  you,  or  my  own  interest  as 
by  preserving  you,  in  whom,  if  1  should  lose  you,  I  should  lose 
almost  the  only  man  whom  I  call  a  friend. 

'  Pray  let  me  hear  of  you  from  yourself,  or  from  dear  Miss  Reyn- 
olds'.    Make  my  compliments  to  Mr.  Mudge.     I  am,  dear  Sir, 
'  Your  most  affectionate 

'And  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'  At  the  Rev.  Mr.  Percy's,  at  Easton 
Maudit,  Northamptonshire,  (by 
Castle  Ashby.)  Aug.  19,  1764.' 

1765:  ^TAT.  56.]— Early  in  the  year  1765  he  paid  a 
short  visit  to  the  University  of  Cambridge,  with  his  friend 
Mr.  Beauclerk.  There  is  a  lively  picturesque  account  of  his 
behaviour  on  this  visit,  in  The  Gentleman  s  Magar:inc  for 
March  1785,  being  an  extract  of  a  letter  from  the  late  Dr. 
John  Sharp.  The  two  following  sentences  are  very  charac- 
teristical : — 

'  Sir  Joshua's  sister,  for  whom  Johnson  had  a  particular  affection, 
and  to  whom  he  wrote  many  letters  which  I  have  seen,  and  which  I 
am  sorry  her  too  nice  delicacy  will  not  permit  to  be  published.  Bos- 
well.  '  Whilst  the  company  at  Mr.  Thrale's  were  speculating  upon 
a  microscope  for  the  mind,  Johnson  exclaimed  : — "  I  never  saw  one 
that  would  bear  it,  except  that  of  my  dear  Miss  Reynolds,  and  hers  is 
very  near  to  purity  itself." '  Northcote's  Rtynolds,  i.  80.  Once,  says 
Northcote,  there  was  a  coolness  between  her  and  her  brother.  She 
wished  to  set  forth  to  him  her  grievances  in  a  letter.  Not  finding  it 
easy  to  write,  she  consulted  Johnson,  '  who  offered  to  write  a  letter 
himself,  which  when  copied  should  pass  as  her  own.'  This  he  did.  It 
began  : — '  I  am  well  aware  that  complaints  are  always  odious,  but  com- 
plain I  must.'  Such  a  letter  as  this  she  saw  would  not  pass  with  Sir 
Joshua  as  her  own,  and  so  she  could  not  use  it.  Ih.  p.  203.  Of  John- 
son's letters  to  her  Malone  published  one,  and  Mr.  Croker  several 
more.  Mme.  D'Arblay.  in  the  character  she  draws  of  her  {Memoirs 
of  Dr.  Burney,  i.  332),  says  that  '  Dr.  Johnson  tried  in  vain  to  cure  her 
of  living  in  an  habitual  perplexity  of  mind  and  irresolution  of  conduct, 
which  to  herself  was  restlessly  tormenting,  and  to  all  around  her  was 
teazingly  wearisome." 

'He 


564  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  [a. d.  1765. 

*  He  drank  his  large  potations  of  tea  with  me,  interrupted  by 
many  an  indignant  contradiction,  and  many  a  noble  sentiment.' 

'  Several  persons  got  into  his  company  the  last  evening  at 

Trinity,  where,  about  twelve,  he  began  to  be  very  great ;  stripped 
poor  Mrs.  Macaulay  to  the  very  skin,  then  gave  her  for  his  toast, 
and  drank  her  in  two  bumpers'.' 

The  strictness  of  his  self-examination  and  scrupulous 
Christian  humility  appear  in  his  pious  meditation  on  Easter- 
day  this  year. 

'  I  purpose  again  to  partake  of  the  blessed  sacrament ;  yet  when 
I  consider  how  vainly  I  have  hitherto  resolved  at  this  annual  com- 
memoration of  my  Saviour's  death,  to  regulate  my  life  by  his  laws, 
I  am  almost  afraid  to  renew  my  resolutions.' 

The  concluding  words  arc  very  remarkable,  and  shew  that 
he  laboured  under  a  severe  depression  of  spirits. 

'  Since  the  last  Easter  I  have  reformed  no  evil  habit,  my  time 
has  been  unprofitably  spent,  and  seems  as  a  dream  that  has  left 
nothing  behind.  My  memory  grows  confused,  and  I  kno7v  nof  how 
the  days  pass  over  me.     Good  Lord  deliver  meM' 

No  man  was  more  gratefully  sensible  of  any  kindness  done 
to  him  than  Johnson.  There  is  a  little  circumstance  in  his 
diary  this  year,  which  shews  him  in  a  very  amiable  light. 

'July  2. —  I  paid  Mr.  Simpson  ten  guineas,  which  he  had  for- 
merly lent  me  in  my  necessity,  and  for  which  Tetty  expressed  her 
gratitude.' 

'July  8. — I  lent  Mr.  Simpson  ten  guineas  more'.' 

Here  he  had  a  pleasing  opportunity  of  doing  the  same 
kindness  to  an  old  friend,  which  he  had  formerly  received 
from  him.  Indeed  his  liberality  as  to  money  was  very  re- 
markable.    The  next  article  in  his  diary  is, 

'July  16.  — I  received  seventy-five  pounds'.  Lent  Mr.  Davis 
twenty-five.' 

Trinity  College,  Dublin,  at  this  time  surprised  Johnson 
with  a  spontaneous  compliment  of  the  highest  academical 

•  See  Append i.x  C.  "^  Pr.  and  Med.\>.(y\.     BoswELL. 

'  See  ante,  p.  400.  *  His  quarter's  pension.     See  ante,^.  435. 

honours, 


Aetat.  5G.j     yohusou  created  Doctor  of  Laws.  565 

honours,  by   -eating  him   Doctor  of  Laws*.     The  diploma, 
which  is  in    »  y  possession,  is  as  follows : 

'  OMNIB  US  ad  quos  prcEscntes  literal  pervenerint,  salutcm.  Nos 
Pnepositiis  ct  Socii  seniorcs  Colkgii  sacrosancttr  ct  individuce  Trini- 
tatis  Reghice  Elizabetha-  juxta  Dublin,  tcstarnnr,  Sainueli  Johnson, 
Armigerd',  oh  egregiam  scriptormn  elegantiain  ft  utilitatem,  grafiam 
concessam  fuisse  pro  gradu  Doctoratfis  in  uttflque  yure,  octavo  die 

'  Mr.  Croker,  misunderstanding  a  passage  in  Hawkins,  writes : — 
'  Hawkins  says  that  he  disliked  to  be  called  Doctor,  as  reminding 
him  that  he  had  been  a  schoolmaster.'  What  Hawkins  really  says 
(Life,  p.  446)  is  this  : — '  His  attachment  to  Oxford  prevented  Johnson 
from  receiving  this  honour  as  it  was  intended,  and  he  never  assumed 
the  title  which  it  conferred.  He  was  as  little  pleased  to  be  called 
Doctor  in  consequence  of  it,  as  he  was  with  the  title  of  Domine,  which 
a  friend  of  his  once  incautiously  addressed  him  by.  He  thought  it 
alluded  to  his  having  been  a  schoolmaster.'  It  is  clear  that  'it'  in 
the  last  line  refers  only  to  the  title  of  Domine.  Murphy  {Life,  p.  98; 
says  that  Johnson  never  assumed  the  title  of  Doctor,  till  Oxford  con- 
ferred on  him  the  degree.  Boswell  states  {post,  March  31,  1775,  note) : 
— •  It  is  remarkable  that  he  never,  so  far  as  I  know,  assumed  his  title 
of  Doctor,  but  called  himself  .J/r.  Johnson.'  In  this,  as  I  show  there, 
Boswell  seems  to  be  not  perfectly  accurate.  I  do  not  believe  Haw- 
kins's assertion  that  Johnson  'was  little  pleased  to  be  called  Qoctor 
in  consequence  of  his  Dublin  degree.*  In  Boswell's  Hebrides,  most  of 
which  was  read  by  him  before  he  received  his  O.xford  degree,  he  is 
commonly  styled  Doctor.  Boswell  says  in  a  note  on  Aug.  15,  1773: — 
'  It  was  some  time  before  I  could  bring  myself  to  call  him  Doctor.' 
Had  Johnson  disliked  the  title  it  would  have  been  known  to  Boswell. 
Mrs.Thrale,  it  is  true,  in  her  letters  to  him,  after  he  had  received  both 
his  degrees,  commonly  speaks  of  him  as  Mr.  Johnson.  We  may  as- 
sume that  he  valued  his  Oxford  degree  of  M.A.  more  highly  than  the 
Dublin  degree  of  LL.D. ;  for  in  the  third  edition  of  the  Abridgment 
of  /lis  Dictionary,  T^uhWshed  in  1766,  he  is  styled  Samuel  Johnson,  A.M. 
In  his  Lilies  of  the  Poets  he  calls  himself  simply  Samuel  Johnson.  He 
had  by  that  time  risen  above  degrees.  In  his  foiirncy  to  the  LLebrides 
{Works,  ix.  14),  after  stating  that  'An  English  or  Irish  doctorate  can- 
not be  obtained  by  a  very  young  man,'  he  continues  : — '  It  is  reasona- 
ble to  suppose  .  .  .  that  he  who  is  by  age  qualified  to  be  a  doctor,  has 
in  so  much  time  gained  learning  sufficient  not  to  disgrace  the  title,  or 
wit  sufficient  not  to  desire  it.' 

■■'  Trinity  College  made  him,  it  should  .seem,  Armiger  at  the  same 
time  that  it  made  him  Doctor  of  Laws. 

Jnlii, 


566  On  becoming  a  politician.  [a.d.  1765. 


yulii,  Afifio  Domini  millesimo  sep/ingefitesifjw  sexages  'tno-quinto.  In 
cujus  rei  testiiuonimn  singuloruyn  man  us  et  sigillum  'i,o  in  fiisce  uti- 
mur  apposuitnus ;  vicesimo  tertio  die  yulii.  Anno  Dotnini  millesimo 
septingentesimo  sexagesimo-quinto. 

'GuL.  Clement.       Fran.  Andrews.        R.  Murray. 
'  Tho.  Wilson.  Praps.  Rob*"^  Law. 

'Tho.  Leland.  Mich.  Kearney.' 

This  unsolicited  mark  of  distinction,  conferred  on  so  great 
a  literary  character,  did  much  honour  to  the  judgement  and 
liberal  spirit  of  that  learned  body.  Johnson  acknowledged 
the  favour  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Leland,  one  of  their  number; 
but  I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  a  copy  of  it". 

He  appears  this  year  to  have  been  seized  with  a  tempo- 
rary fit  of  ambition,  for  he  had  thoughts  both  of  studying 
law  and   of  engaging  in  politics.      His  'Prayer  before  the 

Study  of  Law'  is  truly  admirable  : — 

'  Sept.  26,  1765. 
'  Almighty  God,  the  giver  of  wisdom,  without  whose  help  resolu- 
tions are  vain,  without  whose  blessing  study  is  ineffectual ;  enable 
me,  if  it  be  thy  will,  to  attain  such  knowledge  as  may  qualify  me 
to  direct  the  doubtful,  and  instruct  the  ignorant ;  to  prevent  wrongs 
and  terminate  contentions  ;  and  grant  that  I  may  use  that  knowl- 
edge which  I  shall  attain,  to  thy  glory  and  my  own  salvation,  for 
Jesus  Christ's  sake.     Amen".' 

His  prayer  in  the  view  of  becoming  a  politician  is  enti- 
tled, '  Engaging  in  Politicks  with  H n,'  no  doubt  his 

friend,  the  Right  Honourable  William  Gerard  Llamilton',  for 
whom,  during  a  long  acquaintance,  he  had  a  great  esteem, 
and  to  whose  conversation  he  once  paid  this  high  compli- 
ment :  '  I  am  very  unwilling  to  be  left  alone.  Sir,  and  there- 
fore I  go  with  my  company  down  the  first  pair  of  stairs,  in 
some  hopes  that  they  may,  perhaps,  return  again.  I  go 
with  you,  Sir,  as  far  as  the  street-door.'     In  what  particular 

'  See  Appendix  D  for  this  letter. 

'•'  Pr.  and  Med.  p.  66.     Boswf.LL. 

^  Single-speech  Hamilton,  as  he  was  commonly  called,  though  in  the 
House  of  Commons  he  had  spoken  more  than  once.  For  above  thirty 
sessions  together,  however,  he  held  his  tongue.     Prior's  Burke,  p.  67. 

departmetit 


Aetat.  5G.J  John  SOUS  introduction  to  the  Thrales.       567 


department  he  intended  to  engage  does  not  appear,  nor  can 
Mr.  Hamilton  explain'.      His  prayer  is  in  general  terms: — 

'  Enlighten  my  understanding  with  knowledge  of  right,  and  gov- 
ern my  will  by  thy  laws,  that  no  deceit  may  mislead  me,  nor  temp- 
tation corrupt  me  ;  that  I  may  always  endeavour  to  do  good,  and 
hinder  evil".' 

There  is  nothing  upon  the  subject  in  his  diary. 

This  year'  was  distinguished  by  his  being  introduced  into 
the  family  of  Mr.  Thrale,  one  of  the  most  eminent  brewers 
in  England,  and  Member  of  Parliament  for  the  borough  of 
Southwark.  Foreigners  are  not  a  little  amazed  when  they 
hear  of  brewers,  distillers,  anjd  men  in  similar  departments  of 
trade,  held  forth  as  persons  of  considerable  consequence.  In 
this  great  commercial  country  it  is  natural  that  a  situation 
which  produces  much  wealth  should  be  considered  as  very 
respectable ;  and,  no  doubt,  honest  industry  is  entitled  to 
esteem.  But,  perhaps,  the  too  rapid  advance  of  men  of  low 
extraction  tends  to  lessen  the  value  of  that  distinction  by 
birth  and  gentility,  which  has  ever  been  found  beneficial  to 
the  grand  scheme  of  subordination.  Johnson  used  to  give 
this  account  of  the  rise  of  Mr.  Thrale's  father:  '  He  worked 
at  six  shillings  a  week  for  twenty  years  in  the  great  brewery, 
which  afterwards  was  his  own.  The  proprietor  of  it  had  an 
only  daughter,  who  was  married  to  a  nobleman.  It  was  not 
fit  that  a  peer  should  continue  the  business.  On  the  old 
man's  death,  therefore,  the  brewery  was  to  be  sold.  To  find 
a  purchaser  for  so  large  a  property  was  a  difficult  matter; 
and,  after  some  time,  it  was  suggested,  that  it  would  be 
adviseable  to  treat  with  Thrale,  a  sensible,  active,  honest 
man,  who  had  been  employed  in  the  house,  and  to  transfer 
the  whole  to  him  for  thirty  thousand  pounds,  security  being 
taken  upon  the  property.  This  was  accordingly  settled.  In 
eleven  years  Thrale  paid  the  purchase-money*.     He  acquired 

*  See  Appendix  E  for  an  explanation. 
'  Pr.  a)td  Med.  p.  67.     Bosw^ell. 
'  See  Appendix  F. 

^  Mr.  Blakeway,  in  a  note  on  this  passage,  says  : — '  The  predecessor 

a  large 


568  Old  Tkrale.  [a.d.  1765. 

a  large  fortune,  and  lived  to  be  Member  of  Parliament  for 
Southwark.  But  what  was  most  remarkable  was  the  liber- 
ality with  which  he  used  his  riches.  He  gave  his  son  and 
daughters  the  best  education.  The  esteem  which  his  good 
conduct  procured  him  from  the  nobleman  who  had  married 
his  master's  daughter,  made  him  be  treated  with  much  atten- 
tion ;  and  his  son,  both  at  school  and  at  the  University  of 
Oxford,  associated  with  young  men  of  the  first  rank.  His 
allowance  from  his  father,  after  he  left  college,  was  splendid  ; 
no  less  than  a  thousand  a  year.  This,  in  a  man  who  had 
risen  as  old  Thralc  did,  was  a  very  extraordinary  instance  of 
generosity.  He  used  to  say,  "  If  this  young  dog  does  not 
find  so  much  after  I  am  gone  as  he  expects,  let  him  remem- 
ber that  he  has  had  a  great  deal  in  my  own  time."  ' 

The  son,  though  in  affluent  circumstances,  had  good  sense 
enough  to  carry  on  his  father's  trade,  which  was  of  such  ex- 
tent, that  I  remember  he  once  told  me,  he  would  not  quit  it 
for  an  annuity  of  ten  thousand  a  year ;  '  Not  (said  he,)  that 
I  get  ten  thousand  a  year  by  it,  but  it  is  an  estate  to  a  family.' 
Having  left  daughters  only,  the  property  was  sold  for  the  im- 
mense sum  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  pounds'; 
a  magnificent  proof  of  what  may  be  done  by  fair  trade  in  no 
long  period  of  time. 


of  old  Thrale  was  Edmund  Halsey,  Esq. ;  the  nobleman  who  married 
his  daughter  was  Lord  Cobham.  The  family  of  Thrale  was  of  some 
consideration  in  St.  Albans;  in  the  Abbey -church  is  a  handsome 
monument  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  John  Thrale,  late  of  London,  mer- 
chant, who  died  in  1704.'  He  describes  the  arms  on  the  monument. 
Mr.  Hayward,  in  Mrs.  Piozzi's  Autobiography,  i.  9,  quotes  her  marginal 
note  on  this  page  in  Boswell.  She  says  that  Edmund  Halsey,  son  of 
a  miller  at  St.  Albans,  married  the  only  daughter  of  his  master,  old 
Child,  of  the  Anchor  Brewhouse,  Southwark,  and  succeeded  to  the 
business  upon  Child's  death.  '  He  sent  for  one  of  his  sister's  sons  to 
London  (my  Mr.  Thrale's  father) ;  said  he  would  make  a  man  of  him, 
and  did  so ;  but  made  him  work  very  hard,  and  treated  him  very 
roughly.'  He  left  him  nothing  at  his  death,  and  Thrale  bought  the 
brewery  of  Lord  and  Lady  Cobham. 

'  Sec  pos/,  under  April  4,  1 781,  and  June  16,  1781. 

There 


Aetat.  56,]  A   nctv  system  of  gentility.  569 


There  may  be  some  who  think  that  a  no.'w  system  of  gen- 
tility' might  be  established,  upon  principles  totally  different 
from  what  have  hitherto  prevailed.  Our  present  heraldry, 
it  may  be  said,  is  suited  to  the  barbarous  times  in  which  it 
had  its  origin.  It  is  chiefly  founded  upon  ferocious  merit, 
upon  military  excellence.  Why,  in  civilised  times,  we  may 
be  asked,  should  there  not  be  rank  and  honours,  upon  prin- 
ciples, which,  independent  of  long  custom,  are  certainly  not 
less  worthy,  and  which,  when  once  allowed  to  be  connected 
with  elevation  and  precedency,  would  obtain  the  same  dig- 
nity in  our  imagination?  Why  should  not  the  knowledge, 
the  skill,  the  expertness,  the  assiduity,  and  the  spirited  haz- 
ards of  trade  and  commerce,  when  crowned  with  success,  be 
entitled  to  give  those  flattering  distinctions  by  which  man- 
kind are  so  universally  captivated  ? 

Such  are  the  specious,  but  false  arguments  for  a  proposi- 
tion which  always  will  find  numerous  advocates,  in  a  nation 
where  men  are  ever>'  day  starting  up  from  obscurity  to  wealth. 
To  refute  them  is  needless.  The  general  sense  of  mankind 
cries  out,  with  irresistible  force,  '  Un  gcntilJiomvie  est  toiijoiirs 
ZentilJiovmie'^ .' 


'  Mrs.  Burney  informs  me  that  she  heard  Dr.  Johnson  say,  'An 
English  Merchant  is  a  new  species  of  Gentleman.'  He  perhaps,  had 
in  his  mind  the  following  ingenious  passage  in  The  Conscious  Lovers, 
act  iv.  scene  ii.,  where  Mr.  Sealand  thus  addresses  Sir  John  Bevil : — 
'  Give  me  leave  to  say,  that  we  merchants  are  a  species  of  gentry  that 
have  grown  into  the  world  this  last  centur}^  and  are  as  honourable, 
and  almost  as  useful  as  you  landed-folks,  that  have  always  thought 
yourselves  so  much  above  us ;  for  your  trading  forsooth  is  extended 
no  farther  than  a  load  of  hay,  or  a  fat  ox.— You  are  pleasant  people 
indeed  !  because  you  are  generally  bred  up  to  be  lazy,  therefore,  I  war- 
rant your  industry  is  dishonourable.'     Boswell. 

The  Conscious  Loz'ers  is  by  Steele.  '  I  never  heard  of  any  plays  fit 
for  a  Christian  to  read,'  said  Parson  Adams,  '  but  Cafo  and  The  Con- 
scious Lovers ;  and  I  must  own,  in  the  latter  there  are  some  things 
almost  solemn  enough  for  a  sermon.'  Joseph  Andrews,  Book  III. 
chap.  xi. 

'•  In  the  first  number  of  The  Hypochondriack  Boswell  writes :— '  It 
is  a  saying  in  feudal  treatises,  Semel  Baro  semper  Baro,  "  Once  a  baron 

Mr. 


570  A  neiv  home  for  ^o/msoji.  [a. d.  1765. 

Mr.Thrale  had  married  Miss  Hesther  Lynch  Salusbury,  of 
good  Welsh  extraction',  a  lady  of  lively  talents,  improved  by 
education.  That  Johnson's  introduction  into  Mr.  Thrale's 
family,  which  contributed  so  much  to  the  happiness  of  his 
life,  was  owing  to  her  desire  for  his  conversation,  is  very  prob- 
able and  a  general  supposition  :  but  it  is  not  the  truth.  Mr. 
Murphy,  who  was  intimate  with  Mr.  Thrale'\  having  spoken 
very  highly  of  Dr.  Johnson,  he  was  requested  to  make  them 
acquainted\  This  being  mentioned  to  Johnson,  he  accepted 
of  an  invitation  to  dinner  at  Thrale's,  and  was  so  much 
pleased  with  his  reception,  both  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thrale, 
and  they  so  much  pleased  with  him,  that  his  invitations  to 
their  house  were  more  and  more  frequent,  till  at  last  he  be- 
came one  of  the  family,  and  an  apartment  was  appropriated 
to  him,  both  in  their  house  in  Southwark,  and  in  their  villa 
at  Streatham*. 

always  a  baron."'  London  Mag.  1777,  p.  493.  He  seems  at  times  to 
mark  his  sense  of  Mr.  Thrale's  inferiority  by  speaking  of  him  as 
Thrale  and  his  house  as  Thrale's.  See  posf,  April  5  and  12,  1776, 
April  7,  1778,  and  under  March  30,  1783.  He  never,  I  believe,  is  thus 
familiar  in  the  case  of  Beauclerk,  Burke,  Langton,  and  Reynolds. 

*  For  her  extraction  see  Hayward's  Mrs.  Piozzi,  \.  238. 

'  Miss  Burney  records  in  May  1779,  how  one  day  at  Streatham  '  Mr. 
Murphy  met  with  a  very  joyful  reception  ;  and  Mr.  Thrale,  for  the  first 
time  in  his  life,  said  he  was  "a  good  fellow;"  for  he  makes  it  a  sort 
of  rule  to  salute  him  with  the  title  of  "  scoundrel,"  or  "  rascal."  They 
are  very  old  friends;  and  I  question  if  Mr.  Thrale  loves  any  man  so 
well.'     Mmt'.  D' Arblays  Diary,  i.  210. 

=■  From  the  Garrzck  Corres.  i.  116,  it  seems  that  Murphy  introduced 
Garrick  to  the  Thrales.  He  wrote  to  him  on  May  13,  1760: — 'You 
stand  engaged  to  Mr.  Thrale  for  Wednesday  se'ennight.  You  need 
not  apprehend  drinking;  it  is  a  very  easy  house.' 

*  Murphy  {Life,  p.  98)  says  that  Johnson's  introduction  to  the 
Thrales  'contributed  more  than  anything  else  to  e.xempt  him  from 
the  .solicitudes  of  life.'  He  continues  that  '  he  looks  back  to  the  share 
he  had  in  that  business  with  self  congratulation,  since  he  knows  the 
tenderness  which  from  that  time  soothed  Johnson's  cares  at  Streat- 
ham, and  prolonged  a  valuable  life.'  Johnson  wrote  to  Mrs.  Thrale 
from  Lichfield  on  July  20.  1767:— '1  have  found  nothing  that  with- 
draws my  affections  from  the  friends  whom  I  left  behind,  or  which 

Johnson 


Aetat.56.]  Mr.  Thrale.  571 


Johnson  had  a  very  sincere  esteem  for  Mr.  Thrale,  as  a  man 
of  excellent  principles,  a  good  scholar,  well  skilled  in  trade, 
of  a  sound  understanding,  and  of  manners  such  as  presented 
the  character  of  a  plain  independent  English  'Squire'.  As 
this  family  will  frequently  be  mentioned  in  the  course  of  the 
following  pages,  and  as  a  false  notion  has  prevailed  that  Mr. 
Thrale  was  inferiour,  and  in  some  degree  insignificant,  com- 
pared with  Mrs.  Thrale,  it  may  be  proper  to  give  a  true  state 
of  the  case  from  the  authority  of  Johnson  himself  in  his 
own  words. 

'  I  know  no  man,  (said  he,)  who  is  more  master  of  his  wife 
and  family  than  Thrale.  If  he  but  holds  up  a  finger,  he  is 
obeyed.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  she  is  above 
him  in  literary  attainments'.     She  is  more  flippant ;  but  he 


makes  me  less  desirous  of  reposing  at  that  place  which  your  kindness 
and  Mr.  Thrale's  allows  me  to  call  my  home.'  Piozsi  Letters,  i.  4. 
From  Mull,  on  Oct.  15,  1773,  h^  wrote: — '  Having  for  many  weeks  had 
no  letter,  my  longings  are  very  great  to  be  informed  how  all  things 
are  at  home,  as  you  and  mistress  allow  me  to  call  it.'  lb.  p.  166.  Miss 
Burney  in  1778  wrote  that  'though  Dr.  Johnson  lives  almost  wholly 
at  Streatham,  he  always  keeps  his  apartments  in  town.'  Mme.  D'Ar- 
blays  Diary,  i.  58.  Johnson  {Works,  viii.  381)  tells  how,  in  the  house 
of  Sir  Thomas  Abney,  '  Dr.  Watts,  with  a  constancy  of  friendship  and 
uniformity  of  conduct  not  often  to  be  found,  was  treated  for  thirty-six 
years  with  all  the  kindness  that  friendship  could  prompt,  and  all  the 
attention  that  respect  could  dictate.'  He  continues: — 'A  coalition 
like  this,  a  state  in  which  the  notions  of  patronage  and  dependence 
were  overpowered  by  the  perception  of  reciprocal  benefits,  deserves  a 
particular  memorial.'  It  was  such  a  coalition  which  he  formed  with 
the  Thrales — a  coalition  in  which,  though  the  benefits  which  he  re- 
ceived were  great,  yet  those  which  he  conferred  were  still  greater. 

*  On  this  Mrs.  Piozzi  notes : — '  No,  no  !  Mr.  Thrale's  manners  pre- 
sented the  character  of  a  gay  man  of  the  town;  like  Millamant,  in 
Congreve's  comedy,  he  abhorred  the  country  and  everything  in  it.' 
Hayward's  Piozzi,  \.  10.  Mrs.  Millamant,  in  77/*?  Way  of  the  World, 
act  iv.  sc.  iv.,  says  : — *  I  loathe  the  country  and  everything  that  relates 
to  it.' 

' '  It  is  but  justice  to  Mr.  Thrale  to  say,  that  a  more  ingenuous  frame 
of  mind  no  man  possessed.  His  education  at  Oxford  gave  him  the 
habits  of  a  gentleman  ;  his  amiable  temper  recommended  his  conver- 

has 


572 


Mrs.  Thrale.  [a.d.1765. 


has  ten  times  her  learning:  he  is  a  regular  scholar;  but  her 
learning  is  that  of  a  school-boy  in  one  of  the  lower  forms.' 
My  readers  may  naturally  wish  for  some  representation  of 
the  figures  of  this  couple.  Mr.  Thrale  was  tall,  well  propor- 
tioned, and  stately.  As  for  Madatn,  or  my  Mistress',  by  which 
epithets  Johnson  used  to  mention  Mrs.  Thrale,  she  was  short, 
plump,  and  brisk".  She  has  herself  given  us  a  lively  view  of 
the  idea  which  Johnson  had  of  her  person,  on  her  appearing 
before  him  in  a  dark-coloured  gown;  'You  little  creatures 
should  never  wear  those  sort  of  clothes,  however;  they  arc 
unsuitable  in  every  way.  What !  have  not  all  insects  gay 
colours'?'  Mr.  Thrale  gave  his  wife  a  liberal  indulgence, 
both  in  the  choice  of  their  company,  and  in  the  mode  of 


sation,  and  the  goodness  of  his  heart  made  him  a  sincere  friend.' 
Murphy's  Johnsofi,  p.  ()().  Johnson  wrote  of  him  to  Mrs.  Thrale: — 
'  He  must  keep  well,  for  he  is  the  pillar  of  the  house ;  and  you  must 
get  well,  or  the  house  will  hardly  be  worth  propping."  Piozsi  Letters, 
i.  340.  S^Gpost,  April  18,  1778.  Mme.  D'Arblay  (Memoirs  of  Dr.  Bur- 
ney,  ii.  104)  gives  one  reason  for  Thrale's  fondness  for  Johnson's  so- 
ciety. '  Though  entirely  a  man  of  peace,  and  a  gentleman  in  his 
character,  he  had  a  singular  amusement  in  hearing,  instigating,  and 
provoking  a  war  of  words,  alternating  triumph  and  overthrow,  be- 
tween clever  and  ambitious  colloquial  combatants,  where  there  was 
nothing  that  could  inflict  disgrace  upon  defeat." 

'  In  like  manner  he  called  Mr.  Thrale  Master  or  My  }?iaster.  '  I 
hope  Master's  walk  will  be  finished  when  I  come  back.'  Piozzi  Let- 
ters, i.  355.  '  My  master  may  plant  and  dig  till  his  pond  is  an  ocean.' 
lb.  p.  357.     See  post.  July  9.  1777. 

'  Miss  Burney  thus  described  her  in  1776  : — '  She  is  extremely  lively 
and  chatty ;  and  showed  none  of  the  supercilious  or  pedantic  airs  so 
scoffingly  attributed  to  women  of  'earning  or  celebrity ;  on  the  con- 
trary, she  is  full  of  sport,  remarkably  gay,  and  excessively  agreeable. 
I  liked  her  in  everything  except  her  entrance  into  the  room,  which 
was  rather  florid  and  flourishing,  as  who  should  say,  "  It  is  I ! — No  less 
a  person  than  Mrs.  Thrale  !"  However,  all  that  ostentation  wore  out 
in  the  course  of  the  visit,  which  lasted  the  whole  morning ;  and  you 
could  not  have  helped  liking  her,  she  is  so  very  entertaining — though 
not  simple  enough,  I  believe,  for  quite  winning  your  heart.'  Memoirs 
of  Dr.  Burney,  ii.  88.  - 

*  Mrs.  Ptozzt's  Anecdotes.^,  lyg.     Boswell.  -  - -i 

entertaining 


Aetat.56.]  Mrs,  Tlirale.  573 

entertaining  them.  He  understood  and  valued  Johnson, 
without  remission,  from  their  first  acquaintance  to  the  day 
of  his  death.  Mrs.  Thrale  was  enchanted  with  Johnson's 
conversation,  for  its  own  sake,  and  had  also  a  very  allowable 
vanity  in  appearing  to  be  honoured  with  the  attention  of  so 
celebrated  a  man. 

Nothing  could  be  more  fortunate  for  Johnson  than  this 
connection'.  He  had  at  Mr.  Thrale's  all  the  comforts  and 
even  luxuries  of  life  ;  his  melancholy  was  diverted,  and  his 
irregular  habits  lessened^  by  association  with  an  agreeable 
and  well-ordered  family.  He  was  treated  with  the  utmost 
respect,  and  even  affection.  The  vivacity  of  Mrs.  Thrale's 
literary  talk  roused  him  to  cheerfulness  and  exertion,  even 
when  they  were  alone.  But  this  was  not  often  the  case  ;  for 
he  found  here  a  constant  succession  of  what  gave  him  the 
highest  enjoyment:  the  society  of  the  learned,  the  witty, and 
the  eminent  in  every  way,  who  were  assembled  in  numerous 
companies\  called  forth  his  wonderful  powers,  and  gratified 
him  with  admiration,  to  which  no  man  could  be  insensible. 


'  Johnson  wrote  to  Mrs.  Thrale  on  Oct.  13.  1777: — 'I  cannot  but 
think  on  your  kindness  and  my  master's.  Life  has  upon  the  whole 
fallen  short,  very  short,  of  my  early  expectation  ;  but  the  acquisition 
of  such  a  friendship,  at  an  age  when  new  friendships  are  seldom  ac- 
quired, is  something  better  than  the  general  course  of  things  gives 
man  a  right  to  expect.  I  think  on  it  with  great  delight ;  I  am  not 
very  apt  to  be  delighted.'  Piozzi  Letters,  ii.  7.  Johnson's  friends  suf- 
fered from  this  connection.  Se.G^  post,  March  20,  1778,  where  it  is  said 
that  '  at  Streatham  he  was  in  a  great  measure  absorbed  from  the  so- 
ciety of  his  old  friends.' 

"^  Yet  one  year  he  recorded  : — '  March  3,  I  have  never,  I  thank  God, 
since  new  year's  day  deviated  from  the  practice  of  rising.  In  this 
practice  I  persisted  till  I  went  to  Mr.  Thrale's  sometime  before  Mid- 
summer ;  the  irregularity  of  that  family  broke  my  habit  of  rising.  I 
was  there  till  after  Michaelmas.'  Hawkins's  Johnson,  p.  458,  note. 
Hawkins  places  this  in  1765  ;  but  Johnson  states  {Pr.  and  Med.  p.  71 ), 
'  I  returned  from  Streatham,  Oct.  i,  — 66,  having  lived  there  more  than 
three  months.' 

'  Boswell  wrote  to  Temple  in  1775: — 'I  am  at  present  in  a  tottr- 
btllon  of  conversations ;  but  how  come  you  to  throw  in  the  Thrales 

In 


574  Johnsons  S/iakspeake  pitbiished.     [ad. I7e5. 

In  the  October  of  this  year'  he  at  length  gave  to  the  world 
his  edition  of  Shakspearc',  which,  if  it  had  no  other  merit  but 
that  of  producing  his  Preface\  in  which  the  excellencies  and 
defects  of  that  immortal  bard  arc  displayed  with  a  masterly 
hand,  the  nation  would  have  had  no  reason  to  complain.  A 
blind  indiscriminate  admiration  of  Shakspeare  had  exposed 
the  British  nation  to  the  ridicule  of  foreigners'.     Johnson,  by 


among  the  Reynoldses  and  the  Beauclcrks .'  Mr.  Thrale  is  a  worthy, 
sensible  man,  and  has  the  wits  much  about  his  house ;  but  he  is  not 
one  himself.  Perhaps  you  mean  Mrs.  Thrale."  Letters  of  Hoswell,  p. 
192.  Murphy  {Life,  p.  141)  says  : — '  It  was  late  in  life  before  Johnson 
had  the  habit  of  mixing,  otherwise  than  occasionally,  with  polite  com- 
pany. At  Mr.  Thrale's  he  saw  a  constant  succession  of  well-accom- 
plished visitors.  In  that  society  he  began  to  wear  oflf  the  rugged 
points  of  his  own  character.  The  time  was  then  expected  when  he 
was  to  cease  being  what  George  Garrick,  brother  to  the  celebrated 
actor,  called  him  the  first  time  he  heard  him  converse.  "  A  Tre.men- 
Dous  Companion."  ' 

'  Johnson  wrote  to  Dr.  Warton  on  Oct.  9: — '  Mrs.  Warton  uses  me 
hardly  in  supposing  that  I  could  forget  so  much  kindness  and  civility 
as  she  showed  me  at  Winchester.'  VVooll's  Warton,  p.  309.  Malone 
on  this  remarks  :—'  It  appears  that  Johnson  spent  some  time  with  that 
gentleman  at  Winchester  in  this  year."  I  believe  that  Johnson  is 
speaking  of  the  year  1762,  when,  on  his  way  to  Devonshire,  he  passed 
two  nights  in  that  town.     See  Taylor's  Reynolds,  i.  214. 

'  It  was  in  1745  ^hat  he  published  his  ObserTations  on  Macbeth,  as  a 
specimen  of  his  projected  edition  (ante,  p.  202).  In  1756  he  issued 
Proposals  undertaking  that  his  work  should  be  published  before 
Christmas,  1757  (p.  369).  On  June  21,  1757,  he  writes: — '  I  am  print- 
ing my  new  edition  of  Shakspeare'  (p.  373).  On  Dec.  24  of  the  same 
year  he  says,  '1  shall  publish  about  March'  (p.  375).  On  March  8, 
1758,  he  writes: — 'It  will  be  published  before  summer.  ...  I  have 
printed  many  of  the  plays '  (p.  379).  In  June  of  the  same  year  Lang- 
ton  took  some  of  the  plays  to  Oxford  (p.  390).  Churchill's  Ghost 
(Parts  I  and  2)  was  published  in  the  spring  of  1762  (p.  370).  On  July 
20,  1762,  Johnson  wrote  to  Baretti,  '  I  intend  that  you  shall  soon  re- 
ceive Shakspeare'  (p.  427).     In  October  1765  it  was  published. 

'According  to  Mr.  Seward  {Anec.  ii.  464),  'Adam  Smith  styled  it 
the  most  manly  piece  of  criticism  that  was  ever  published  in  any 
country.' 

*  George  III,  at  all  events,  did  not  share  in  this  blind  admiration. 

candidly 


Aetat.  56.J  Praise  of  Shakspeare.  575 

candidly  admitting  the  faults  of  his  poet,  had  the  more  credit 
in  bestowing  on  him  deserved  and  indisputable  praise ;  and 
doubtless  none  of  all  his  panegyrists  have  done  him  half  so 
much  honour.  Their  praise  was,  like  that  of  a  counsel,  upon 
his  own  side  of  the  cause  :  Johnson's  was  like  the  grave,  well- 
considered,  and  impartial  opinion  of  the  judge,  which  falls 
from  his  lips  with  weight,  and  is  received  with  reverence. 
What  he  did  as  a  commentator  has  no  small  share  of  merit, 
though  his  researches  were  not  so  ample,  and  his  investiga- 
tions so  acute  as  they  might  have  been,  which  we  now  cer- 
tainly know  from  the  labours  of  other  able  and  ingenious 
criticks  who  have  followed  him'.  He  has  enriched  his  edi- 
tion with  a  concise  account  of  each  play,  and  of  its  charac- 
teristick  excellence.  Many  of  his  notes  have  illustrated 
obscurities  in  the  text,  and  placed  passages  eminent  for 
beauty  in  a  more  conspicuous  light ;  and  he  has  in  general 
exhibited  such  a  mode  of  annotation,  as  may  be  beneficial 
to  all  subsequent  editors^ 

'Was  there  ever,'  cried  he,  'such  stuff  as  great  part  of  Shakespeare? 
only  one  must  not  say  so.  But  what  think  you?  What?  Is  there 
not  sad  stuff?  What?  What?'  '  Yes,  indeed,  I  think  so,  Sir,  though 
mixed  with  such  excellencies  that — '  '  O  !'  cried  he,  laughing  good- 
humouredly,  '  I  know  it  is  not  to  be  said  !  but  it's  true.  Only  it's 
Shakespeare,  and  nobody  dare  abuse  him.'  Mine.  D'Arblay's  Diary, 
ii.  398. 

'  That  Johnson  did  not  slur  his  work,  as  has  been  often  said,  we 
have  the  best  of  all  evidence — his  own  word.  '  I  have,  indeed,'  he 
writes  (  Works,  v.  152),  '  disappointed  no  opinion  more  than  my  own  ; 
yet  I  have  endeavoured  to  perform  my  task  with  no  slight  solicitude. 
Not  a  single  passage  in  the  whole  work  has  appeared  to  me  corrupt 
which  I  have  not  attempted  to  restore ;  or  obscure  which  I  have  not 
attempted  to  illustrate.' 

'  Steevens  wrote  to  Garrick  : — '  To  say  the  truth,  the  errors  of  War- 
burton  and  Johnson  are  often  more  meritorious  than  such  corrections 
of  them  as  the  obscure  industry  of  Mr.  Farmer  and  myself  can  furnish. 
Disdaining  crutches,  they  have  sometimes  had  a  fall ;  but  it  is  my  duty 
to  remember,  that  I,  for  my  part,  could  not  have  kept  on  my  legs  at 
all  without  them.'  Garrick  Corrcs.  ii.  130.  'Johnson's  preface  and 
notes  are  distinguished  by  clearness  of  thought  and  diction,  and  by 
masterly  common  sense.'     Cambridge  Shakespeare,  i.  xxxvi. 

His 


576  Dr.  Kejtrick.  [a.d.  1765. 

His  SJiakspcarc  was  virulently  attacked  by  Mr.  William 
Kenrick,  who  obtained  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from  a  Scotch 
University,  and  wrote  for  the  booksellers  in  a  great  variety 
of  branches.  Though  he  certainly  was  not  without  consider- 
able merit,  he  wrote  with  so  little  regard  to  decency  and 
principles,  and  decorum",  and  in  so  hasty  a  manner,  that  his 
reputation  was  neither  extensive  nor  lasting.  I  remember 
one  evening,  when  some  of  his  works  were  mentioned,  Dr. 
Goldsmith  said,  he  had  never  heard  of  them  ;  upon  which 
Dr.  Johnson  observed,  '  Sir,  he  is  one  of  the  many  who  have 
made  themselvcs///^//V/(',  without  making  themselves  X7/<?2f«\' 

A  young  student  of  Oxford,  of  the  name  of  l^arclay,  wrote 
an  answer  to  Kcnrick's  review  of  Johnson's  Shakspearc. 
Johnson  was  at  first  angry  tiiat  Kcnrick's  attack  should  have 
the  credit  of  an  answer.  But  afterwards,  considcrinir  the 
young  man's  good  intention,  he  kindly  noticed  him,  and 
probably  would  have  done  more,  had  not  tiic  young  iTian 
died'. 

In  his  Preface  to  Shakspcarc,  Johnson  treated  Voltaire  very 
contemptuously,  observing,  upon  some  of  his  remarks, '  These 
are  the  petty  criticisms  of  petty  wits'.'     Voltaire,  in  revenge, 

'  Kenrick  later  on  was  the  gross  libeller  of  Goldsmith,  and  the  far 
grosser  libeller  of  Garrick.  '  When  proceedings  were  commenced 
against  him  in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  [for  the  libel  on  GarrickJ, 
he  made  at  once  the  most  abject  submission  and  retractation.'  Prior's 
Goldsmith,  i.  294.  In  the  Garrick  Corrcs.  (ii.  341)  is  a  letter  addressed 
to  Kenrick,  in  which  Garrick  says  : — '  I  could  have  honoured  you  by 
giving  the  satisfaction  of  a  gentleman,  if  you  could  (as  Shakespeare 
says)  /ia7U'  screwed  your  courage  to  the  sticking  place,  to  have  taken  it.' 
It  is  endorsed  : — '  This  was  not  sent  to  the  scoundrel  Dr.  Kenrick.  .  .  . 
It  was  judged  best  not  to  answer  any  more  of  Dr.  Kcnrick's  notes,  he 
had  behaved  so  unworthily.' 

^  Ephraim  Chambers,  in  the  epitaph  that  he  made  for  himself  {ante, 
p.  253,  note  3).  had  described  himself  as  niultis  pervulgatus  paucis 
not  us.'     Gent.  Mag.  x.  262. 

'  See  Boswell's  Hebrides,  Oct.  i,  1773. 

♦  Johnson  had  joined  Voltaire  with  Dennis  and  Rymer.  '  Dennis 
and  Rymer  think  Shakespeare's  Romans  not  sufficiently  Roman ;  and 
Voltaire   censures   his   kings   as   not   completely   royal.      Dennis   is 

made 


Aetat. 56.]         Voltaire s  attack  on  yoJutson.  577 

made  an  attack  upon  Johnson,  in  (^wl-  of  liis  numerous  liter- 
ary sallies,  which  I  remember  to  have  read  ;  but  there  beinj^ 
no  general  index  to  his  voluminous  works,  have  searched  in 
vain,  and  therefore  cannot  quote  it'. 

offended  that  Menenius,  a  senator  of  Rome,  should  play  the  buffoon  ; 
and  Voltaire,  perhaps,  thinks  decency  violated  when  the  Danish 
usurper  is  represented  as  a  drunkard.  But  Shakespeare  always  makes 
nature  predominate  over  accident.  ...  His  .story  requires  Romans  or 
kings,  but  he  thinks  only  on  men.  He  knew  that  Rome,  like  every 
other  city,  had  men  of  all  dispositions;  and  wanting  a  buffoon,  he 
went  into  the  senate-house  for  that  which  the  senate-house  would 
certainly  have  afforded  him.  He  was  inclined  to  show  an  usurper 
and  a  murderer,  not  only  odious,  but  despicable  ;  he  therefore  added 
drunkenness  to  his  other  qualities,  knowing  that  kings  love  wine  like 
other  men,  and  that  wine  exerts  its  natural  power  upon  kings.  These 
are  the  petty  cavils  of  petty  minds;  a  poet  overlooks  the  casual  dis- 
tinction of  country  and  condition,  as  a  painter,  satisfied  with  the  figure, 
neglects  the  drapery.'  Johnson's  Works,  v.  109.  Johnson  had  pre- 
viously attacked  Voltaire,  in  his  Memoirs  of  Frederick  the  Great. 
{Afjte,  i.  503,  note  2.)  In  these  Memoirs  he  writes: — 'Voltaire  has 
asserted  that  a  large  sum  was  raised  for  her  [the  Queen  of  Hungary's] 
succour  by  voluntary  subscriptions  of  the  English  ladies.  It  is  the 
great  failing  of  a  strong  imagination  to  catch  greedily  at  wonders. 
He  was  misinformed,  and  was  perhaps  unwilling  to  learn,  by  a  second 
enquiry,  a  truth  less  splendid  and  amusing.'  lb.  vi.  455.  See  post, 
Oct.  27,  1779. 

'  '  Voltaire  replied  in  the  Dictionnaire  PJiilosopJiique.  (  Works, 
xxxiii.  566.)  '  J'ai  jete  les  yeux  sur  une  edition  de  Shakespeare,  don- 
nee  par  le  sieur  Samuel  Johnson.  J'y  ai  vu  qu'on  y  traite  de  petits 
esprits  les  etrangers  qui  sont  etonnes  que  dans  les  pieces  de  ce  grand 
Shakespeare  un  smatettr  rovtain  fasse  le  boitffon  ;  et  qtiitn  roi paraisse 
sur  le  theatre  en  ivrogne.  Je  ne  veux  point  soupt^onner  le  sieur  John- 
son d'etre  un  mauvais  plaisant,  et  d'aimer  trop  le  vin ;  mais  je  trouve 
un  peu  extraordinaire  qu'il  compte  la  bouftonnerie  et  I'ivrognerie 
parmi  les  beautes  du  theatre  tragique ;  la  raison  qu'il  en  donne  n'est 
pas  moins  singuliere.  Le  poete,  dit-il,  dedaigne  ces  distinctions  acci- 
dent elles  de  conditions  et  de  pays,  conime  un  peintre  qui,  content  d' avoir 
peint  la  figure,  neglige  la  draperie.  La  comparaison  serait  plus  juste, 
s'il  parlait  d'un  peintre  qui,  dans  un  sujet  noble,  introduirait  des 
grotesques  ridicules,  peindrait  dans  la  bataille  d'Arbelles  Alexandre- 
le-Grand  monte  sur  un  ane,  et  la  femme  de  Darius  buvant  avec  des 
•"oujats  dans  un  cabaret,'  Johnson,  perhaps,  had  this  attack  in  mind 
I. — 37  Voltaire 


578  Johnsons  letter  to  Burney.  [a.d.  1765. 

Voltaire  was  an  antagonist  with  whom  I  tliought  Johnson 
should  not  disdain  to  contend.  I  pressed  him  to  answer. 
He  said,  he  perhaps  might ;  but  he  never  did. 

Mr.  Burney  having  occasion  to  write  to  Johnson  for  some 
receipts  for  subscriptions  to  his  Shakspcare,\\\(\z\\.  Johnson 
had  omitted  to  deliver  when  the  money  was  paid',  he  availed 
himself  of  that  opportunity  of  thanking  Johnson  for  the  great 
pleasure  which  he  had  received  from  the  perusal  of  his  Pref- 
ace to  Shakspcarc ;  which,  although  it  excited  much  clamour 
against  him  at  first,  is  now  justly  ranked  among  the  most 
excellent  of  his  writings.  To  this  letter  Johnson  returned 
the  following  answer  : — 

'To  Charles  Burney,  Esq.,  in  Poland-street. 

'Sir, 

'  I  am  sorry  that  your  kindness  to  me  has  brought  upon  you 
so  much  trouble,  though  you  have  taken  care  to  abate  that  sorrow, 
by  the  pleasure  which  I  receive  from  your  approbation.  1  defend 
my  criticism  in  the  same  manner  with  you.  We  must  confess  the 
faults  of  our  favourite,  to  gain  credit  to  our  praise  of  his  excellencies. 
He  that  claims,  either  in  himself  or  for  another,  the  honours  of  per- 
fection, will  surely  injure  the  reputation  which  he  designs  to  assist. 
'  Be  pleased  to  make  my  compliments  to  your  family. 
'  I  am,  Sir, 

'  Your  most  obliged 

'  And  most  humble  servant, 
'001.16,1765.'  'Sam.  Johnson.' 

From  one  of  his  journals  I  transcribed  what  follows: 

*  At  church,  Oct.  — 65. 

'To  avoid  all  singularity";  Bonaventura^. 

when,  in  his  Li'/e  of  Pope  ( IVorks,  viii.  275),  he  thus  wrote  of  Voltaire: 
— '  He  had  been  entertained  by  Pope  at  his  table,  when  he  talked 
with  so  much  grossness,  that  Mrs.  Pope  was  driven  from  the  room. 
Pope  discovered  by  a  trick  that  he  was  a  spy  for  the  court,  and  never 
considered  him  as  a  man  worthy  of  confidence.' 

'  See  post,  under  May  8,  1781. 

"  See  post,  ii.  85. 

"  He  was  probably  proposing  to  himself  the  model  of  this  excellent 
person,  who  for  his  piety  was  named  the  Seraphic  Doctor.     Boswell. 

'To 


Aetat.56.]  Resolutions  at  church.  579 

'  To  come  in  before  service,  and  compose  my  mind  by  medita- 
tion, or  by  reading  some  portions  of  scriptures.      Tctty. 

'  If  1  can  hear  the  sermon,  to  attend  it,  unless  attention  be  more 
troublesome  than  useful. 

'  To  consider  the  act  of  prayer  as  a  reposal  of  myself  upon  God, 
and  a  resignation  of  all  into  his  holy  hand.' 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX   A. 

Johnson's  Debates  in  Parliament. 

{Pages  136  and  174.) 

The  publication  of  the  '  Debates '  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine 
began  in  July  1732.  The  names  of  the  speakers  were  not  printed 
in  full ;  Sir  Robert  Walpole  was  disguised — if  a  disguise  it  can  be 
called — as  Sir  R — t  W — le,  and  Mr.  Pelham  as  Mr,  P-lh-m. 
Otherwise  the  report  was  open  and  avowed.  During  the  first  few 
years,  however,  it  often  happened  that  no  attempt  was  made  to 
preserve  the  individuality  of  the  members.  Thus  in  a  debate  on 
the  number  of  seamen  {Gefit.  Mag.  v.  507),  the  speeches  of  the 
'  eight  chief  speakers  '  were  so  combined  as  to  form  but  three. 
First  come  '  the  arguments  made  use  of  for  30,000  men  ;'  next  '  an 
answer  to  the  following  effect ;'  and  lastly,  '  a  reply  that  was  in 
substance  as  follows.'  Each  of  these  three  speeches  is  in  the  first 
person,  though  each  is  formed  of  the  arguments  of  two  members 
at  least,  perhaps  of  many.  In  the  report  of  a  two  days'  debate  in 
1737,  in  which  there  were  fourteen  chief  speakers,  the  substance 
of  thirteen  of  the  speeches  was  given  in  three  (ib.  vii.  746,  775). 
In  July  1736  (Jb.  vi,  363)  we  find  the  beginning  of  a  great  change. 
'To  satisfy  the  impatience  of  his  readers,'  the  publisher  promises 
'  to  give  them  occasionally  some  entire  speeches.'  He  prints  one 
which  likely  enough  had  been  sent  to  him  by  the  member  who  had 
spoken  it,  and  adds  that  he  shall  be  '  grateful  for  any  authentic 
intelligence  in  matters  of  such  importance  and  tenderness  as  the 
speeches  in  Parliament '  {jb.  p.  365).  Cave,  in  his  examination  be- 
fore the  House  of  Lords  on  April  30,  1747,  on  a  charge  of  having 
printed  in  the  Gentleman'' s  Magazine  an  account  of  the  trial  of  Lord 
Lovat,  owned  that  '  he  had  had  speeches  sent  him  by  the  members 
themselves,  and  had  had  assistance  from  some  members  who  have 
taken  notes  of  other  members'  speeches '  {Pari.  Hist.  xiv.  60). 

It 


582  Appendix  A. 

It  was  chiefly  in  the  numbers  of  the  Magazine  for  the  latter  half 
of  each  year  that  the  publication  took  place.  The  parliamentary 
recess  was  the  busy  time  for  reporters  and  printers.  It  was  com- 
monly believed  thai  the  resolution  on  the  Journals  of  the  House 
of  Commons  a<:;ainsl  publishing  any  of  its  proceedings  was  only  in 
force  while  parliament  was  sitting.  But  on  April  13,  1738,  it  was 
unanimously  resolved  '  thai;  it  is  an  high  indignity  to,  and  a  notori- 
ous breach  of  the  privilege  of  this  House  to  give  any  account  of 
the  debates,  as  well  during  the  recess  as  the  sitting  of  parliament ' 
{Pari.  Hist.  \.  ?>i2).  It  was  admitted  that  this  privilege  expired 
at  the  end  of  every  parliament.  When  the  dissolution  had  come 
every  one  might  publish  what  he  pleased.  With  the  House  of 
Lords  it  was  far  otherwise,  for  'it  is  a  Court  of  Record,  and  as 
such  its  rights  and  privileges  never  die.  It  may  punish  a  printer 
for  printing  any  part  of  its  proceedings  for  thirty  or  forty  years 
back'  {il>.  p.  807).  Mr.  Winnington,  when  speaking  to  this  resolu 
tion  of  April  13,  said  that  if  they  did  not  put  a  speedy  stop  to  this 
practice  of  reporting  'they  will  have  every  word  that  is  spoken 
here  hy  gentlemen  misrepresented  hy  fellows  who  thrust  themselves 
into  our  gallery '  {ib.  p.  806).  Walpole  complained  '  that  he  had 
been  made  to  speak  the  very  reverse  of  what  he  meant.  He  had 
read  debates  wherein  all  the  wit,  the  learning,  and  the  argument  had 
been  thrown  into  one  side,  and  on  the  other  nothing  but  what  was  low, 
mean,  and  ridiculous  '  {ib.  p.  809).  Later  on,  Johnson  in  his  reports 
'saved  appearances  tolerably  well;  but  took  care  that  the  Whig 
Dogs  should  not  have  the  best  of  it '  (Murphy's  yohnson,  p.  45). 

It  was  but  a  few  days  after  he  became  a  contributor  to  the  Maga- 
zine that  this  resolution  was  passed.  Parliament  rose  on  May  20, 
and  in  the  June  number  the  reports  of  the  debates  of  the  Senate 
of  Lilliput  began.  To  his  fertile  mind  was  very  likely  due  this 
humorous  expedient  by  which  the  resolution  of  the  House  was 
mocked.  That  he  wrote  the  introduction  in  which  is  narrated  the 
voyage  of  Captain  Gulliver's  grandson  to  Lilliputia  can  scarcely 
be  doubted.  It  bears  all  the  marks  of  his  early  style.  The  Lords 
become  Hurgoes,  and  the  Commons  Clinabs,  Walpole  becomes 
Walelop,  Pulteney  Pulnub,  and  Pitt  Ptit ;  otherwise  the  report  is 
much  as  it  had  been.  At  the  end  of  the  volume  for  1739  was 
given  a  key  to  all  the  names.  The  London  Magazine  had  boldly 
taken  the  lead.  In  the  May  number,  which  was  published  at  the 
close  of  the  month,  and  therefore  after  parliament  had  risen,  began 

the 


Appendix  A.  58 3 

the  report  of  the  proceedings  and  debates  of  a  political  and  learned 
club  of  young  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  who  hoped  one  day  to 
enter  parliament,  and  who  therefore,  the  better  to  qualify  them- 
selves for  their  high  position,  only  debated  questions  that  were 
there  discussed.  To  the  speakers  were  given  the  names  of  the 
ancient  Greeks  and  Romans.  Thus  we  find  the  Hon.  Marcus 
Cato  and  the  Right  Hon.  M.  Tullius  Cicero.  By  the  key  that  was 
published  in  1742  Cicero  was  seen  to  be  VValpole,  and  Cato,  Pulte- 
ney.  What  risks  the  publishers  and  writers  ran  was  very  soon 
shown.  In  December  1740  the  ministers  proposed  to  lay  an  em- 
bargo on  various  articles  of  food.  As  the  members  entered  the 
House  a  printed  paper  was  handed  to  each,  entitled  Consuieraiions 
upon  the  Embargo.  Adam  Smith  had  just  gone  up  as  a  young 
student  to  the  University  of  Oxford.  There  are  '  considerations  ' 
suggested  in  this  paper  which  the  great  authority  of  the  author  of 
the  Wealth  0/  Nations  has  not  yet  made  pass  current  as  truths. 
The  paper  contained,  moreover,  charges  of  jobbery  against  'great 
men,'  though  no  one  was  named.  It  was  at  once  voted  a  malicious 
and  scandalous  libel,  and  the  author,  William  Cooley,  a  scrivener, 
was  committed  to  Newgate.  With  him  was  sent  the  printer  of  the 
Daily  Post,  in  which  part  of  the  Cofisiderations  had  been  published. 
After  seven  weeks'  imprisonment  in  the  depth  of  winter  in  that 
miserable  den,  'without  sufficient  sustenance  to  support  life,' 
Cooley  was  discharged  on  paying  his  fees.  He  was  in  knowledge 
more  than  a  hundred  years  before  his  time,  and  had  been  made  to 
suffer  accordingly.  The  printer  would  have  been  discharged  also, 
but  the  fees  were  more  than  he  could  pay.  Two  months  later  he 
petitioned  for  mercy.  The  fees  by  that  time  were  £121.  His 
petition  was  not  received,  and  he  was  kept  in  prison  till  the  close 
of  the  session  {Far/.  Hist.  xi.  867-894). 

Such  were  the  risks  run  by  Cave  and  Johnson  and  their  fellow- 
workers.  That  no  prosecution  followed  was  due  perhaps  to  that 
dread  of  ridicule  which  has  often  tempered  the  severity  of  the  law. 
'  The  Hurgolen  Branard,  who  in  the  former  session  was  Pretor  of 
Mildendo,'  might  well  have  been  unwilling  to  prove  that  he  was 
Sir  John  Barnard,  late  Lord  Mayor  of  London. 

Johnson,  it  should  seem,  revised  some  of  the  earliest  Debates. 
In  a  letter  to  Cave  which  cannot  have  been  written  later  than  Sep- 
tember 1738,  he  mentions  the  alterations  that  he  had  made  {ante, 
p.  136).     The  more  they  were  written  by  him,  the  less  authentic 

did 


584  Appendix  A. 

did  they  become,  for  he  was  not  one  of  those  '  fellows  who  thrust 
themselves  into  the  gallery  of  the  House.'  His  employer,  Cave,  if 
we  can  trust  his  own  evidence,  had  been  in  the  habit  of  going  there 
and  taking  notes  with  a  pencil  {Pari.  Hist.  xiv.  60).  But  Johnson, 
Hawkins  says  {Life,  p.  122),  'never  was  within  the  walls  of  either 
House.'  According  to  Murphy  {Life,  p.  44),  he  had  been  inside 
the  House  of  Commons  once.  Be  this  as  it  may,  in  the  end  the 
Debates  were  composed  by  him  alone  {ante,  p.  137).  From  that 
time  they  must  no  longer  be  looked  upon  as  authentic  records,  in 
spite  of  the  assertions  of  the  Editor  of  the  Pari.  Hist.  (xi.  Preface). 
Johnson  told  Boswell  {atite,  p.  137)  'that  sometimes  he  had  nothing 
more  communicated  to  him  than  the  names  of  the  several  speakers, 
and  the  part  which  they  had  taken  in  the  debate  ;'  sometimes  '  he 
had  scanty  notes  furnished  by  persons  employed  to  attend  in  both 
Houses  of  Parliament.'  Often,  his  Debates  were  written  'from  no 
materials  at  all — the  mere  coinage  of  his  own  imagination '  {post, 
under  Dec.  9,  1784). 

'  He  never  wrote  any  part  of  his  works  with  equal  velocity. 
Three  columns  of  the  Magazine  in  an  hour  was  no  uncommon 
effort,  which  was  faster  than  most  persons  could  have  transcribed 
that  quantity '  (/^.).  According  to  Hawkins  {Life,  p.  99),  '  His 
practice  was  to  shut  himself  up  in  a  room  assigned  to  him  at  St. 
John's  Gate,  to  which  he  would  not  sufifer  any  one  to  approach,  ex- 
cept the  compositor  or  Cave's  boy  for  matter,  which,  as  fast  as  he 
composed  it,  he  tumbled  out  at  the  door.' 

From  Murphy  we  get  the  following  curious  story  : — 

'  That  Johnson  was  the  author  of  the  debates  during  that  period 
[Nov.  1740  to  Feb.  1743]  was  not  generally  known  ;  but  the  secret  trans- 
pired several  years  afterwards,  and  was  avowed  by  himself  on  the  fol- 
lowing occasion  :^Mr.  Wedderburne  (now  Lord  Loughborough),  Dr. 
Johnson,  Dr.  Francis  (the  translator  of  Horace),  the  present  writer,  and 
others  dined  with  the  late  Mr.  Foote.  An  important  debate  towards 
the  end  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole's  administration  being  mentioned,  Dr. 
Francis  observed,  "that  Mr.  Pitt's  speech  on  that  occasion  was  the 
best  he  had  ever  read."  He  added,  "  that  he  had  employed  eight  years 
of  his  life  in  the  study  of  Demosthenes,  and  finished  a  translation  of 
that  celebrated  orator,  with  all  the  decorations  of  style  and  language 
within  the  reach  of  his  capacity ;  but  he  had  met  with  nothing  equal 
to  the  speech  above  mentioned."  Many  of  the  company  remembered 
the  debate ;  and  some  passages  were  cited  with  the  approbation  and 
applause  of  all  present.  During  the  ardour  of  conversation,  Johnson 
remained  silent.    As  soon  as  the  warmth  of  praise  subsided,  he  opened 

with 


Appendix  A.  585 

with  these  words : — "  That  speech  I  wrote  in  a  garret  in  Exeter  Street." 
The  company  was  struck  with  astonishment.  After  staring  at  each 
other  in  silent  amaze,  Dr.  Francis  asked  how  that  speech  could  be 
written  by  him?  "Sir,"  said  Johnson,  "I  wrote  it  in  Exeter  Street. 
I  never  had  been  in  the  gallery  of  the  House  of  Commons  but  once. 
Cave  had  interest  with  the  door-keepers.  He,  and  the  persons  em- 
ployed under  him,  gained  admittance  :  they  brought  away  the  subject 
of  discussion,  the  names  of  the  speakers,  the  side  they  took,  and  the 
order  in  which  they  rose,  together  with  notes  of  the  arguments  ad- 
vanced in  the  course  of  the  debate.  The  whole  was  afterwards  com- 
municated to  me,  and  I  composed  the  speeches  in  the  form  which  they 
now  have  in  the  Parliamentary  Debates."  To  this  discovery  Dr. 
Francis  made  answer  : — "  Then,  sir,  you  have  exceeded  Demosthenes 
himself,  for  to  say  that  you  have  exceeded  Francis's  Demosthenes,  would 
be  saying  nothing."  The  rest  of  the  company  bestowed  lavish  en- 
comiums on  Johnson  :  one,  in  particular,  praised  his  impartiality  ;  ob- 
serving, that  he  dealt  out  reason  and  eloquence  with  an  equal  hand  to 
both  parties.  "That  is  not  quite  true,"  said  Johnson;  "I  saved  ap- 
pearances tolerably  well,  but  I  took  care  that  the  Whig  DOGS  should 
not  have  the  best  of  it."  '     Murphy's  Life  of  Johnson,  p.  343. 

Murphy,  we  must  not  forget,  wrote  from  memory,  for  there  is  no 
reason  to  think  that  he  kept  notes.  That  his  memory  cannot  alto- 
gether be  trusted  has  been  shown  by  Boswell  {ante,  p.  391,  note  4). 
This  dinner  with  Foote  must  have  taken  place  at  least  nineteen 
years  before  this  account  was  published,  for  so  many  years  had 
Dr.  Francis  been  dead.  At  the  time  when  Johnson  was  living  in 
Exeter-street  he  was  not  engaged  on  the  magazine.  Nevertheless 
the  main  facts  may  be  true  enough.  Johnson  himself  told  Boswell 
impost,  May  13,  1778)  that  in  Lord  Chesterfield's  Miscei/a?ieous 
Works  (ii.  319)  there  were  two  speeches  ascribed  to  Chesterfield 
which  he  had  himself  entirely  written,  Horace  Walpole  {Letters, 
i.  147)  complained  that  the  published  report  of  his  own  first  speech 
'did  not  contain  one  sentence  of  the  true  one.'  Johnson,  in  his 
preface  to  the  Literary  Magazine  of  1756,  seems  to  confess  what 
he  had  done,  unless,  indeed,  he  was  altogether  making  himself  the 
mere  mouth  -  piece  of  the  publisher.  He  says  : — '  We  shall  not 
attempt  to  give  any  regular  series  of  debates,  or  to  amuse  our 
readers  with  senatorial  rhetorick.  The  speeches  inserted  in  other 
papers  have  been  long  known  to  be  fictitious,  and  produced  some- 
times by  men  who  never  heard  the  debate,  nor  had  any  authentick 
information.  We  have  no  design  to  impose  thus  grossly  on  our 
readers.'     { Works,  v.  363.) 

The 


^86  Appendix  A. 

The  secret  that  Johnson  wrote  these  Debates  was  indeed  well 
kept.  He  seems  to  be  aimed  at  in  a  question  that  was  put  to  Cave 
in  his  examination  before  the  House  of  Lords  in  1747.  'Being 
asked  "  if  he  ever  had  any  person  whom  he  kept  in  pay  to  make 
speeches  for  him,"  he  said,  "he  never  had."  '  {Pari.  Hist.  xiv.  60.) 
Herein  he  lied  in  order,  no  doubt,  to  screen  Johnson.  Forty-four 
years  later  Horace  Walpole  wrote  [Letters,  ix.  319),  '  I  never  knew 
Johnson  wrote  the  speeches  in  the  Gent/email's  Magazine  till  he 
died.'  Johnson  told  Boswell  'that  as  soon  as  he  found  that  they 
were  thought  genuine  he  determined  that  he  would  write  no  more 
of  them,  "for  he  would  not  be  accessory  to  the  propagation  of 
falsehood.'"  {Ante,^.  175.)  One  of  his  Debates  was  translated 
into  French,  German,  and  Spanish  {Gent.  Mag.  xiii.  59),  and,  no 
doubt,  was  accepted  abroad  as  authentic.  When  he  learnt  this  his 
conscience  might  well  have  received  a  shock.  That  it  did  receive 
a  shock  seems  almost  capable  of  proof.  It  was  in  the  number  of 
the  Magazine  iox  February  1743 — at  the  beginning  of  March,  that 
is  to  say — that  the  fact  of  these  foreign  translations  was  made 
known.  The  last  Debate  that  Johnson  wrote  was  for  the  22nd  day 
of  February  in  that  year.  In  1740,  1741,  and  1742,  he  had  worked 
steadily  at  his  Debates.  The  beginning  of  1743  found  him  no  less 
busy.  His  task  suddenly  came  to  an  end.  Among  foreign  nations 
his  speeches  were  read  as  the  very  words  of  Fnglish  statesmen. 
To  the  propagation  of  such  a  falsehood  as  this  he  would  no  longer 
be  accessory.  Fifteen  years  later  Smollett  quoted  them  as  if  they 
were  genuine  {History  0/  Englafid,  iii.  73).  Here,  however,  John- 
son's conscience  was  void  of  offence;  for  'he  had  cautioned  him 
not  to  rely  on  them,  for  that  they  were  not  authentic'  (Hawkins, 
Life,  p.  129.) 

That  they  should  generally  have  passed  current  shews  how  un- 
acquainted people  at  that  time  were  with  real  debating.  Even  if 
we  had  not  Johnson's  own  statement,  both  from  external  and  in- 
ternal evidence  we  could  have  known  that  they  were  for  the  most 
part  '  the  mere  coinage  of  his  imagination.'  They  do  not  read  like 
speeches  that  had  ever  been  spoken.  '  None  of  them,'  Mr.  Flood 
said,  'were  at  all  like  real  debates'  {post,  under  March  30,  177 1). 
They  are  commonly  formed  of  general  statements  which  suit  any 
one  speaker  just  as  well  as  any  other.  The  scantier  were  the  notes 
that  were  given  him  by  those  who  had  heard  the  debate,  the  more 
he  had  to  draw  on  his  imagination.     But  his  was  an  imagination 

which 


Appendix  A.  587 

which  supplied  him  with  what  was  general  much  more  readily  than 
with  what  was  particular.  Had  De  Foe  been  the  composer  he 
would  have  scattered  over  each  speech  the  most  ingenious  and 
probable  matters  of  detail,  but  De  Foe  and  Johnson  were  wide  as 
the  poles  asunder.  Neither  had  Johnson  any  dramatic  power. 
His  parliamentary  speakers  have  scarcely  more  variety  than  the 
characters  in  Irene.  Unless  he  had  been  a  constant  frequenter  of 
the  galleries  of  the  two  Houses,  he  could  not  have  acquired  any 
knowledge  of  the  style  and  the  peculiarities  of  the  different  mem- 
bers. Nay,  even  of  their  modes  of  thinking  and  their  sentiments 
he  could  have  gained  but  the  most  general  notions.  Of  debating 
he  knew  nothing.  It  was  the  set  speeches  in  Livy  and  the  old 
historians  that  he  took  as  his  models.  In  his  orations  there  is  very 
little  of  '  the  tart  reply ;'  there  is,  indeed,  scarcely  any  examination 
of  an  adversary's  arguments.  So  general  are  the  speeches  that  the 
order  in  which  they  are  given  might  very  often  without  inconven- 
ience be  changed.  They  are  like  a  series  of  leading  articles  on 
both  sides  of  the  question,  but  all  written  by  one  man.  Johnson 
is  constantly  shifting  his  character,  and,  like  Falstafif  and  the 
Prince,  playing  first  his  own  part  and  then  his  opponent's.  It  is 
wonderful  how  well  he  preserves  his  impartiality,  though  he  does 
'  take  care  that  the  Whig  dogs  should  not  have  the  best  of  it.' 

He  not  only  took  the  greatest  liberties  in  his  reports,  but  he 
often  took  them  openly.  Thus  an  army  bill  was  debated  in  com- 
mittee on  Dec.  10,  1740,  and  again  the  following  day  on  the  report 
in  the  full  House.  '  As  in  these  two  debates,'  he  writes,  '  the  argu- 
ments were  the  same,  Mr.  Gulliver  has  thrown  them  into  one  to 
prevent  unnecessary  repetitions.'  {Gent.  Mag.  Dec.  1742,  p.  676.) 
In  each  House  during  the  winter  of  1742-3  there  was  a  debate  on 
taking  the  Hanoverian  troops  into  pay.  The  debate  in  the  Lords 
was  spread  over  five  numbers  of  the  Magazine  in  the  following 
summer  and  autumn.  It  was  not  till  the  spring  of  1744  that  the 
turn  of  the  Commons  came,  and  then  they  were  treated  somewhat 
scurvily.  '  This  debate,'  says  the  reporter,  who  was  Johnson,  '  we 
thought  it  necessary  to  contract  by  the  omission  of  those  argu- 
ments which  were  fully  discussed  in  the  House  of  Hurgoes,  and  of 
those  speakers  who  produced  them,  lest  we  should  disgust  our 
readers  by  tedious  repetitions.'  {lb.  xiv.  125.)  Many  of  these  de- 
bates have  been  reported  somewhat  briefly  by  Bishop  (afterwards 
Archbishop)  Seeker.     To  follow  his  account  requires  an  accurate 

knowledge 


c88  Appendix  A. 

knowledge  of  the  times,  whereas  Johnson's  rhetorick  for  the  most 
part  is  easily  understood  even  by  one  very  ignorant  of  the  history 
of  the  first  two  Georges.  Much  of  it  might  have  been  spoken  on 
almost  any  occasion,  for  or  against  almost  any  minister.  It  is  true 
that  we  here  and  there  find  such  a  correspondence  between  the 
two  reports  as  shews  that  Johnson,  as  he  has  himself  told  us,  was 
at  times  furnished  with  some  information.  Jiut,  on  the  other  hand, 
we  can  no  less  clearly  see  that  he  was  often  drawing  solely  on  his 
imagination.  Frequently  there  is  but  the  slightest  agreement  be- 
tween the  reports  given  by  the  two  men  of  the  same  speeches.  Of 
this  a  good  instance  is  afforded  by  Lord  Carteret's  speech  of  Feb. 
13,  1741.  According  to  Johnson  '  the  Hurgo  Quadrert  began  in 
this  manner ' : — 

'  As  the  motion  which  I  am  about  to  make  is  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance and  of  the  most  extensive  consequences .  as  it  cannot  but  meet 
with  all  the  opposition  which  the  prejudices  of  some  and  the  interest 
of  others  can  raise  against  it ;  as  it  must  have  llie  whole  force  of  min- 
isterial influence  to  encounter  without  any  assistance  but  from  iustice 
and  reason,  I  hope  to  be  excused  by  your  Lordships  for  spending  some 
time  in  endeavouring  to  shew  that  it  wants  ncj  other  support ;  that  it 
is  not  founded  upon  doubtful  suspicions  but  upon  uncontestable  facts,' 
and  so  on  for  eight  more  lines.     {Gent.  Ma^.  xi.  339.) 

The  Bishop's  note  begins  as  follows  : — 

'  Carteret.  I  am  glad  to  see  the  House  so  full.  The  honour  of 
the  nation  is  at  stake.  And  the  oldest  man  hath  not  known  such  cir- 
cumstances as  we  are  in.  When  storms  rise  you  must  see  what  pilots 
you  have,  and  take  methods  to  make  the  nation  easy.  I  shall  ''O  go 
through  the  foreign  transactions  of  several  years ;  (2)  The  domestic ; 
(3)  Prove  that  what  I  am  about  to  propose  is  a  parliamentar>-  method.' 
{Pari.  Hist.  xi.  1047.) 

Still  more  striking  is  the  difference  in  the  two  reports  of  a  speech 
by  Lord  Talbot  on  May  25,  1742.  According  to  the  Gent.  Mag. 
xii.  519,  'the  Hurgo  Toblat  spoke  to  this  eiTect'  :— 

'So  high  is  my  veneration  for  this  great  assembly  that  it  is  never 
without  the  utmost  efforts  of  resolution  that  I  can  prevail  upon  myself 
to  give  my  sentiments  upon  any  question  that  is  the  subject  of  debate, 
however  strong  may  be  my  conviction,  or  however  ardent  my  zeal." 

The  Bishop  makes  him  say : — 

'  I  rise  up  only  to  give  time  to  others  to  consider  how  they  will  carry 
on  the  debate,'    {Pari.  Hist.  xii.  646.) 

On 


Appendix  A.  ^3^ 

On  Feb.  13,  1741,  the  same  Lord,  being  called  to  order  for  say- 
ing that  there  were  Lords  who  were  influenced  by  a  place,  ex- 
claimed, according  to  the  Bishop,  ' "  By  the  eternal  G — d,  I  will 
defend  my  cause  everywhere — ."  But  Lords  calling  to  order,  he 
recollected  himself  and  made  an  excuse.'  {Pari.  Hist.  xi.  1063.) 
In  the  Gent.  Mag.  xi.  419,  'the  Hurgo  Toblat  resumed: — "My 
Lords,  whether  anything  has  escaped  from  me  that  deserves  such 
severe  animadversions  your  Lordships  must  decide."  ' 

Once  at  least  in  Johnson's  reports  a  speech  is  given  to  the  wrong 
member.  In  the  debate  on  the  Gin  Bill  on  Feb.  22,  1743  {Gent. 
Mag.  xiii.  696),  though  the  Bishop's  notes  show  that  he  did  not 
speak,  yet  a  long  speech  is  put  into  his  mouth.  It  was  the  Earl 
of  Sandwich  who  had  spoken  at  this  turn  of  the  debate.  The  edi- 
tor of  the  Pari.  Hist.  (xii.  1398),  without  even  notifying  the  change, 
coolly  transfers  the  speech  from  the  'decent'  Seeker',  who  was 
afterwards  Primate,  to  the  grossly  licentious  Earl.  A  transference 
such  as  this  is,  however,  but  of  little  moment.  For  the  most  part 
the  speeches  would  be  scarcely  less  lifelike,  if  all  on  one  side  were 
assigned  to  some  nameless  Whig,  and  all  on  the  other  side  to  some 
nameless  Tory.  It  is  nevertheless  true  that  here  and  there 
are  to  be  found  passages  which  no  doubt  really  fell  from  the 
speaker  in  whose  mouth  they  are  put.  They  mention  some  fact 
or  contain  some  allusion  which  could  not  otherwise  have  been 
known  by  Johnson.  Even  if  we  had  not  Cave's  word  for  it,  we 
might  have  inferred  that  now  and  then  a  member  was  himself  his 
own  reporter.  Thus  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  February  1744  (p.  68) 
we  find  a  speech  by  Sir  John  St.  Aubyn  that  had  appeared  eight 
months  earlier  in  the  very  same  words  in  the  London  Magazine. 
That  Johnson  copied  a  rival  publication  is  most  unlikely — impos- 
sible, I  might  say.  St.  Aubyn,  I  conjecture,  sent  a  copy  of  his 
speech  to  both  editors.  In  the  Gent.AIag.  for  April  1743  (p,  184), 
a  speech  by  Lord  Percival  on  Dec.  10,  1742,  is  reported  apparently 
at  full  length.  The  debate  itself  was  not  published  till  the  spring 
of  1744,  when  the  reader  is  referred  for  this  speech  to  the  back 
number  in  which  it  had  already  been  inserted.     {Ib.xiw.  123). 

The  London  Magazine  generally  gave  the  earlier  report;  it  was, 
however,  twitted  by  its  rival  with  its  inaccuracy.     In  one  debate, 

>  'E'en  in  a  bishop  I  can  spy  desert, 
Seeker  is  decent,  Rundel  has  a  heart.' 

Pope,  Epil.  Sat.  1 1 .  70. 


590  Appendix  A. 

it  was  said,  '  it  had  introduced  instead  of  twenty  speakers  but  six, 
and  those  in  a  very  confused  manner.  It  had  attributed  to  Caecil- 
ius  words  remembered  by  the  whole  audience  to  be  spoken  by 
M,  Agrippa.'  {Gent.  Mag.  xii.  512.)  The  report  of  the  debate  of 
Feb.  13,  1 741,  in  the  London  Magazine  fills  more  than  twenty-two 
columns  of  the  Pari.  Hist.  (xi.  1130)  with  a  speech  by  Lord 
Bathurst.  That  he  did  speak  is  shewn  by  Seeker  {ib.  p.  1062). 
No  mention  of  him  is  made,  however,  in  the  report  in  the  Gent. 
Mag.  (xi.  339).  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  reports  eleven  speakers, 
while  the  London  Magazine  gives  but  five.  Seeker  shows  that 
there  were  nineteen.  Though  the  London  Magazine  was  generally 
earlier  in  publishing  the  debates,  it  does  not  therefore  follow  that 
Johnson  had  seen  their  reports  when  he  wrote  his.  His  may  have 
been  kept  back  by  Cave's  timidity  for  some  months  even  after 
they  had  been  set  up  in  type.  In  the  staleness  of  the  debate  there 
was  some  safeguard  against  a  parliamentary  prosecution. 

Mr.  Croker  maintains  (Croker's  Bostve/l,  p.  44)  that  Johnson 
wrote  the  Debates  from  the  time  (June  1738)  that  they  assumed 
the  Lilliputian  title  till  1744.  In  this  he  is  certainly  wrong.  Even 
if  we  had  not  Johnson's  own  statement,  from  the  style  of  the 
earlier  Debates  we  could  have  seen  that  they  were  not  written  by 
him.  No  doubt  we  come  across  numerous  traces  of  his  work  ; 
but  this  we  should  have  expected.  Boswell  tells  us  that  Guthrie's 
reports  were  sent  to  Johnson  for  revision  [ante,  p.  136).  Nay, 
even  a  whole  speech  now  and  then  may  be  from  his  hand.  It  is 
very  likely  that  he  wrote,  for  instance,  the  Debate  on  buttons  and 
button-holes  [Gent.  Mag.  viii.  627)  and  the  Debate  on  the  registra- 
tion of  seamen  (//;.  xi.  i).  But  it  is  absurd  to  attribute  to  him 
passages  such  as  the  following,  which  in  certain  numbers  are 
plentiful  enough  long  after  June  1738.  'There  never  was  any 
measure  pursued  more  consistent  with,  and  more  consequential 
of,  the  sense  of  this  House '  {ib.  ix.  340).  '  It  gave  us  a  handle  of 
making  such  reprisals  upon  the  Iberians  as  this  Crown  found  the 
sweets  of  {ib.  x.  281).  'That  was  the  only  expression  that  the 
least  shadow  of  fault  was  found  with  '  {ib.  xi.  292). 

'Johnson  told  me  himself,'  says  Boswell  {ante,  p.  174J,  'that  he 
was  the  sole  composer  of  the  Debates  for  those  three  years  only 
( 1 741-2-3).  He  was  not,  however,  precisely  exact  in  his  state- 
ment, which  he  mentioned  from  hasty  recollection  ;  for  it  is  suffi- 
ciently evident  that  liis  composition  of  them  began  November  19, 


Appendix  A,  591 

1740,  and  ended  February  23  [22],  1742-3,'  Some  difficulty  is 
caused  in  following  Boswell's  statement  by  the  length  of  time  that 
often  elapsed  between  the  debate  itself  and  its  publication.  The 
speeches  that  were  spoken  between  Nov.  19,  or,  more  strictly 
speaking,  Nov.  25,  1740,  and  Feb.  22,  1743,  were  in  their  publica- 
tion spread  through  the  Magazine  from  July  1741  to  March  1744. 
On  Feb.  13,  1741,  Lord  Carteret  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  Mr. 
Sandys,  'the  Motion-maker','  in  the  House  of  Commons,  moved 
an  address  to  the  King  for  the  removal  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole. 
Johnson's  report  of  the  debate  in  the  Lords  was  published  in  the 
Magazine  for  the  next  July  and  August.  The  year  went  round. 
Walpole's  ministry  was  overthrown,  and  Walpole  himself  was  ban- 
ished to  the  House  of  Lords.  A  second  year  went  by.  At  length, 
in  three  of  the  spring  liumbers  of  1743,  the  debate  on  Sandys's 
motion  was  reported.  It  had  been  published  in  the  London  Mag- 
azine eleven  months  earlier. 

Cave,  if  he  was  tardy,  nevertheless  was  careful  that  his  columns 
should  not  want  variety.  Thus  in  the  number  for  July  1743,  we 
have  the  middle  part  of  the  debate  in  the  Lords  on  Feb.  i,  1743, 
the  end  of  the  debate  in  the  Commons  on  March  9,  1742,  and  the 
beginning  of  another  in  the  Commons  on  the  following  March  23. 
From  the  number  for  July  1741  to  the  number  for  March  1744  John- 
son, as  I  have  already  said,  was  the  sole  composer  of  the  Debates. 
The  irregularity  with  which  they  were  given  at  first  sight  seems 
strange ;  but  in  it  a  certain  method  can  be  discovered.  The  pro- 
ceedings of  a  House  of  Commons  that  had  come  to  an  end  might, 
as  I  have  shown,  be  freely  published.  There  had  been  a  disso- 
lution after  the  session  which  closed  in  April  1741.  The  publi- 
cation of  the  Debates  of  the  old  parliament  could  at  once  begin, 
and  could  go  on  freely  from  month  to  month  all  the  year  round. 
But  they  would  not  last  for  ever.  In  1742,  in  the  autumn  recess, 
the  time  when  experience  had  shewn  that  the  resolution  of  the 
House  could  be  broken  with  the  least  danger,  the  Debates  of  the 
new  parliament  were  published.  They  were  continued  even  in 
the  short  session  before  Christmas.  But  the  spring  of  1743  saw 
a  cautious  return  to  the  reports  of  the  old  parliament.  The  ses- 
sion closed  on  April  21,  and  in  the  May  number  the  comparatively 
fresh  Debates  began  again.  In  one  case  the  report  was  not  six 
months  after  date.  In  the  beginning  of  1744  this  publication 
'  So  Smollett  calls  him  in  his  History  of  Etigland,  iii.  i6. 

went 


592 


Appe7uiix  A. 


went  on  even  in  the  session,  but  it  was  confined  to  the  proceedings 
of  the  previous  winter. 

The  following  table  shews  the  order  in  which  Johnson's  Debates 
were  published  : — 

Gentlemati^s 
Magasme. 

July. 

Aug. 


j  Parliament  was  dissolved  / 
\      on  April  25,  1741.  \ 


Sept. 

Oct. 

Nov. 


Dec. 

Supplement  to  1741 

Jan.  1742 

Feb.  .. 

Mar.  „ 

April  „ 

May  „ 

June  „ 

July  .. 

Aug.  „ 

Sept.  „ 

Oct.  „ 

Nov.  „ 


\  The  new  Parliament 
\      on  Dec.  i. 


met 


Debate  or  part 
of  debate  of 

Feb.  13,  1 741 

Feb.  13, 

\  Jan.  27, 
\  Mar.    2, 

Mar.    2. 

Mar.   2. 

Dec.    9,  1740 

j  Dec.  2,  „ 
\  Dec.  12,  „ 
Feb.  3,  1 741 
Feb.  27,  „ 
3  Jan.  26,  „ 
\  April  13,  ., 
\  Feb.  24,  „ 
\  April  13,  „ 
S  Jan.  27.  „ 
\  Feb.  24,     „ 

Nov.  25,  1740 
\  Nov.  25,     „ 
{  April  8,  1 74 1 


The  Session  ended  on  July  \  JP 

\  Dec.  I, 

15.  ^  ' 


^  Dec.  4.  „ 

Dec.  4, 

\  Dec.  4,  „ 

\  Dec.  8,  „ 

)  Dec.  8.  „ 

/  May  25,  1742 

May  25,  „ 

Dec i  May  25.  .. 

{  June  I, 

Supplement  to  1742        .        .        .        •      j  t 


j   The   Session  opened  on 
i       Nov.  16. 


Dec.  10,  1740 
une  I,    1742 

Jan.  1743 Dec.  10,  1740 

Feb.     „ Feb.  13,  1741 

Mar.     „ Feb.  13,     „ 

April   „        The  Session  ended  on  April  21    Feb.  13,     „ 

Gentleman's 


Appendix  A.  593 

Gentleman^s  Debate  or  part 

Magazine.  of  debate  of 

^^^■'« iN:v.?6.':*^ 

June M"-*     ■■ 

(  beb.  I.    1743 

!Mar.  9,    1742 
Mar,  23,    „ 
Feb.  I,    1743 

Aug.     „ Feb.  I, 

Sept Feb.  i. 

Oct Feb.  I. 

Nov.     „ Feb.  22, 

Dec.  „  The  Session  opened  on  Dec.  i  Feb.  22, 
Supplement  to  1743  ....  Feb.  22, 
Jan.  1744 Feb.  22, 

Feb  \  ^^^-  '°'  '742 

i  Feb.  22,  1743 
Mar.     „ Dec.  10,  1742 

During  the  rest  of  1744  the  debates  were  given  in  the  old  form, 
and  in  a  style  that  is  a  close  imitation  of  Johnson's.  Most  likely 
they  were  composed  by  Hawkesworth  {au/e,  p.  293).  In  1745  they 
were  fewer  in  number,  and  in  1746  the  reports  of  the  Senate  of 
Lilliputia  with  its  Hurgoes  and  Clinabs  passed  away  for  ever. 
They  had  begun,  to  quote  the  words  of  the  Preface  to  the  Maga 
zine  for  1747,  at  a  time  when  '  a  determined  spirit  of  opposition  in 
the  national  assemblies  communicated  itself  to  almost  every  indi- 
vidual, multiplied  and  invigorated  periodical  papers,  and  rendered 
politics  the  chief,  if  not  the  only  object,  of  curiosity.'  They  are  a 
monument  to  the  greatness  of  Walpole,  and  to  the  genius  of  John- 
son. Had  that  statesman  not  been  overthrown,  the  people  would 
have  called  for  these  reports  even  though  Johnson  had  refused  to 
write  them.  Had  Johnson  still  remained  the  reporter,  even  though 
Walpole  no  longer  swayed  the  Senate  of  the  Lilliputians,  the 
speeches  of  that  tumultuous  body  would  still  have  been  read.  For 
though  they  are  not  debates,  yet  they  have  a  vast  vigour  and  a  great 
fund  of  wisdom  of  their  own. 
I.-38 


APPENDIX 


594  Appendix  B. 


APPENDIX    B. 

Johnson's  Letters  to  his  Mother  and  Miss  Porter  in  1759. 

{Page  394.) 

Malone  published  seven  of  the  following  letters  in  the  fourth 
edition,  and  Mr.  Croker  the  rest. 

•To  Mrs.  Johnson  in  Lichfield. 

'  Honoured  Madam, 

'  The  account  which  Miss  [Porter]  gives  me  of  your  health  pierces 
my  heart.  God  comfort  and  preserve  you  and  save  you,  for  the  sake 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

'  I  would  have  Miss  read  to  you  from  time  to  time  the  Passion  of 
our  Saviour,  and  sometimes  the  sentences  in  the  Communion  Service, 
beginning  "  Come  unto  ffie,  all  ye  that  travail  and  are  /leavy  lade?!,  and 
I  will  give  you  rest." 

'  I  have  just  now  read  a  physical  book,  which  inclines  me  to  think 
that  a  strong  infusion  of  the  bark  would  do  you  good.  Do,  dear 
mother,  try  it. 

'  Pray,  send  me  your  blessing,  and  forgive  all  that  I  have  done  amiss 
to  you.  And  whatever  you  would  have  done,  and  what  debts  you 
would  have  paid  first,  or  any  thing  else  that  you  would  direct,  let  Miss 
put  it  down  ;  I  shall  endeavour  to  obey  you. 

'  I  have  got  twelve  guineas  '  to  send  you,  but  unhappily  am  at  a  loss 
how  to  send  it  to-night.  If  I  cannot  send  it  to-night,  it  will  come  by 
the  next  post. 

'  Pray,  do  not  omit  any  thing  mentioned  in  this  letter :  God  bless 
you  for  ever  and  ever. 

'  I  am  your  dutiful  son, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

•Jan.  13,  1758'.' 

'To  Miss  Porter,  at  Mrs.  Johnson's,  in  Lichfield. 
'Mv  dear  Miss, 

'  I  think  myself  obliged  to  you  beyond  all  expression  of  gratitude 
for  your  care  of  my  dear  mother.     God  grant  it  may  not  be  without 

'  Six  of  these  twelve  guineas  Johnson  appears  to  have  borrowed  from  Mr. 
Allen,  the  printer.     See  Hawkins's  Life  of  Johnson,  p.  366  n.     Malone. 

"^  Written  by  mistake  for  1759.  On  the  outside  of  the  letter  of  the  13th  was 
written  by  another  hand — '  Pray  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  this  by  return  of 
post,  without  fail.'    Malone. 

success. 


Appendix  B.  595 

success.  Tell  Kitty  *  that  I  shall  nev^er  forget  her  tenderness  for  her 
mistress.  Whatever  you  can  do,  continue  to  do.  My  heart  is  very  full. 
'  I  hope  you  received  twelve  guineas  on  Monday.  I  found  a  way 
of  sending  them  by  means  of  the  postmaster,  after  I  had  written  my 
letter,  and  hope  they  came  safe.  I  will  send  you  more  in  a  few  days. 
God  bless  you  all. 

*  I  am,  my  dear, 

'  Your  most  obliged 

'  And  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'Jan.  16,  1759. 
'  Over  the  leaf  is  a  letter  to  my  mother.' 

'  Dear  honoured  Mother, 

'  Your  weakness  afflicts  me  beyond  what  I  am  willing  to  commu- 
nicate to  you.  I  do  not  think  you  unfit  to  face  death,  but  I  know 
not  how  to  bear  the  thought  of  losing  you.  Endeavour  to  do  all  you 
[can]  for  yourself.     Eat  as  much  as  you  can. 

'  I  pray  often  for  you  ;  do  you  pray  for  me.     I  have  nothing  to  add 
to  my  last  letter. 

'  I  am,  dear,  dear  mother, 

'  Your  dutiful  son, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'Jan.  16,  1759' 

'To  Mrs.  Johnson,  in  Lichfield. 
'  Dear  honoured  Mother, 

'  I  fear  you  are  too  ill  for  long  letters ;  therefore  I  will  only  tell 
you,  you  have  from  me  all  the  regard  that  can  possibly  subsist  in  the 
heart.  I  pray  God  to  bless  you  for  evermore,  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake. 
Amen. 

'  Let  Miss  write  to  me  every  post,  however  short. 
'  I  am,  dear  mother, 

'  Your  dutiful  son, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'Jan.  18,  1759.' 

'To  Miss  Porter,  at  Mrs.  Johnson's,  in  Lichfield. 

•  Dear  Miss, 

'  I  will,  if  it  be  possible,  come  down  to  you.     God  grant  I  may  yet 

[find]  my  dear  mother  breathing  and  sensible.     Do  not  tell  her,  lest  I 

disappoint  her.     If  I  miss  to  write  next  post.  I  am  on  the  road. 

'  I  am,  my  dearest  Miss, 

'Your  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'Jan.  20.  1759.' 

'  Catherine  Chambers,  Mrs.  Johnson's  maid-servant.     She  died  in  October, 
1767.     Malune.     See /£7j^,  ii.  49. 

On 


596  Appendix  B. 

On  the  other  side. 

'Dear  honoured  Mother', 

'  Neither  your  condition  nor  your  character  make  it  fit  for  me  to 
say  much.  You  have  been  the  best  mother,  and  I  beheve  the  best 
woman  in  the  world.  I  thank  you  for  your  indulgence  to  me,  and 
beg  forgiveness  of  all  that  I  have  done  ill,  and  all  that  I  have  omitted 
to  do  well.  God  grant  you  his  Holy  Spirit,  and  receive  you  to  ever- 
lasting happiness,  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake.  Amen.  Lord  Jesus  receive 
your  spirit.     Amen. 

'  1  am,  dear,  dear  mother, 

'Your  dutiful  son, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'Jan.  20,  1759-' 

'To  Miss  Porter  in  Lichfield. 

'  You  will  conceive  my  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  my  mother,  of  the 
best  mother.  If  she  were  to  live  again  surely  I  should  behave  better 
to  her.  But  she  is  happy,  and  what  is  past  is  nothing  to  her;  and  for 
me,  since  I  cannot  repair  my  faults  to  her,  I  hope  repentance  will 
efface  them.  I  return  you  and  all  those  that  have  been  good  to 
her  my  sincerest  thanks,  and  pray  God  to  repay  you  all  with  infinite 
advantage.  Write  to  me,  and  comfort  me,  dear  child.  I  shall  be 
glad  likewise,  if  Kitty  will  write  to  me.  I  shall  send  a  bill  of  twenty 
pounds  in  a  few  days,  which  I  thought  to  have  brought  to  my  moth- 
er; but  God  suffered  it  not.  I  have  not  power  or  composure  to  say 
much  more.  God  bless  you,  and  bless  us  all. 
'  I  am,  dear  Miss, 

'  Your  affectionate  humble  servant, 

•Sam.  Johnson.* 
'Jan.  23, 1759'.' 

'To  Miss  Porter. 
(  The  beginn/iii;  is  torn  and  lost.) 

'  You  will  forgive  me  if  I  am  not  yet  so  composed  as  to  give  any 
directions  about  any  thing.  But  you  are  wiser  and  better  than  \,  and 
I  shall  be  pleased  with  all  that  you  shall  do.  It  is  not  of  any  use  for 
me  now  to  come  down ;  nor  can  I  bear  the  place.     If  you  want  any 

•  This  letter  was  written  on  the  second  leaf  of  the  preceding,  addressed  to 
Miss  Porter.     Ma  lone. 

'  Mrs.  Johnson  probably  died  on  the  20th  or  2ist  January,  and  was  buried  on 
the  day  this  letter  was  written.  Malone.  On  the  day  on  which  his  mother  was 
buried  Johnson  composed  a  prayer,  as  being  '  now  about  to  return  to  the  com- 
mon comforts  and  business  of  the  world.'  Pr.  and  Med.  p.  38.  After  his  wife's 
death  he  had  allowed  forty  days  to  pass  before  his  'return  to  life.'  Set  ante,  p.  271, 
note  2. 

directions, 


Appendix  B.  597 

directions,  Mr.  Howard  '  will  advise  you.     The  twenty  pounds  I  could 
not  get  a  bill  for  to-night,  but  will  send  it  on  Saturday. 

'  I  am,  my  dear,  your  affectionate  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'Jan.  25, 1759.' 

'To  Miss  Porter. 

'  Dear  Miss, 
'  I  have  no  reason  to  forbear  writing,  but  that  it  makes  my  heart 
heavy,  and  I  had  nothing  particular  to  say  which  might  not  be  de- 
layed to  the  next  post ;  but  had  no  thoughts  of  ceasing  to  correspond 
with  my  dear  Lucy,  the  only  person  now  left  in  the  world  with  whom 
I  think  myself  connected.  There  needed  not  my  dear  mother's  de- 
sire, for  every  heart  must  lean  to  somebody,  and  I  have  nobody  but 
you ;  in  whom  I  put  all  my  little  affairs  with  too  much  confidence  to 
desire  you  to  keep  receipts,  as  you  prudently  proposed. 

'  If  you  and  Kitty  will  keep  the  house,  I  think  I  shall  like  it  best. 
Kitty  may  carry  on  the  trade  for  herself,  keeping  her  own  stock  apart, 
and  laying  aside  any  money  that  she  receives  for  any  of  the  goods 
which  her  good  mistress  has  left  behind  her.  I  do  not  see,  if  this 
scheme  be  followed,  any  need  of  appraising  the  books.  My  mothers 
debts,  dear  mother,  I  suppose  I  may  pay  with  little  difficulty;  and  the 
little  trade  may  go  silently  forward.  I  fancy  Kitty  can  do  nothing 
better ;  and  I  shall  not  want  to  put  her  out  of  a  house,  where  she  has 
lived  so  long,  and  with  so  much  virtue.  I  am  very  sorry  that  she  is 
ill,  and  earnestly  hope  that  she  will  soon  recover  ;  let  her  know  that  I 
have  the  highest  value  for  her,  and  would  do  any  thing  for  her  ad- 
vantage. Let  her  think  of  this  proposal.  I  do  not  see  any  likelier 
method  by  which  she  may  pass  the  remaining  part  of  her  life  in 
quietness  and  competence. 

'  You  must  have  what  part  of  the  house  you  please,  while  you  are 
inclined  to  stay  in  it ;  but  I  flatter  myself  with  the  hope  that  you  and 
I  shall  some  time  pass  our  days  together.  I  am  very  solitary  and 
comfortless,  but  will  not  invite  you  to  come  hither  till  I  can  hope  of 
making  you  live  here  so  as  not  to  dislike  your  situation.  Pray,  my 
dearest,  write  to  me  as  often  as  you  can. 
'  I  am,  dear  Madam, 

'  Your  affectionate  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 

'  Feb.  6,  1759.' 

'To  Miss  Porter. 
'Dear  Madam, 

'  I  thought  your  last  letter  long  in  coming ;  and  did  not  require 
or  expect  such  an  inventory  of  little  things  as  you  have  sent  me.  I 
could  have  taken  your  word  for  a  matter  of  much  greater  value.     I 

>  See  ante,  p.  94. 

am 


598  Appendix  B. 

am  glad  that  Kitty  is  better ;  let  her  be  paid  first,  as  my  dear,  dear 
mother  ordered,  and  then  let  me  know  at  once  the  sum  necessary  to 
discharge  her  other  debts,  and  I  will  find  it  you  very  soon. 

'  I  beg,  my  dear,  that  you  would  act  for  me  without  the  least  scru- 
ple, for  I  can  repose  myself  yery  confidently  upon  your  prudence,  and 
hope  we  shall  never  have  reason  to  love  each  other  less.  I  shall  take 
it  very  kindly  if  you  make  it  a  rule  to  write  to  me  once  at  least  every 
week,  for  I  am  now  very  desolate,  and  am  loth  to  be  universally  for- 
gotten. 

'  I  am,  dear  sweet, 

'  Your  affectionate  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.* 
•March  i,  i758[9].' 

'To  Miss  Porter. 
'  Dear  Madam, 

'  I  beg  your  pardon  for  having  so  long  omitted  to  write.  One 
thing  or  other  has  put  me  off.  I  have  this  day  moved  my  things  and 
you  are  now  to  direct  to  me  at  Staple  Inn,  London.  T  hope,  my  dear, 
you  are  well,  and  Kitty  mends.  I  wish  her  success  in  her  trade.  I 
am  going  to  publish  a  little  story  book  \Rasselas\  which  I  will  send 
you  when  it  is  out.  Write  to  me,  my  dearest  girl,  for  I  am  always 
glad  to  hear  from  you. 

'  I  am,  my  dear,  your  humble  servant, 

'  Sam,  Johnson.' 
'March  23,  1759.' 

'To  Miss  Porter. 
*  Dear  Madam, 

'  I  am  almost  ashamed  to  tell  you  that  all  your  letters  came  safe, 
and  that  I  have  been  always  very  well,  but  hindered,  I  hardly  know 
how,  from  writing.  I  sent,  last  week,  some  of  my  works,  one  for  you, 
one  for  your  aunt  Hunter,  who  was  with  my  poor  dear  mother  when 
she  died,  one  for  Mr.  Howard,  and  one  for  Kitty. 

'  I  beg  you,  my  dear,  to  write  often  to  me,  and  tell  me  how  you  like 
my  little  book. 

*  I  am,  dear  love,  your  affectionate  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
•May  10,  1759.' 


APPENDIX 


Appendix  C.  599 

APPENDIX   C. 

Johnson  at  Cambridge. 

{Page  563.) 

The  following  is  the  full  extract  of  Dr.  Sharp's  letter  giving  an 
account  of  Johnson's  visit  to  Cambridge  in  1765  : — 

'Camb.  Mar.  i,  1765. 
'  As  to  Johnson,  you  will  be  surprised  to  hear  that  I  have  had 
him  in  the  chair  in  which  I  am  now  writing.  He  has  ascended  my 
aerial  citadel.  He  came  down  on  a  Saturday  evening,  with  a  Mr. 
Beauclerk,  who  has  a  friend  at  Trinity.  Caliban,  you  may  be  sure, 
was  not  roused  from  his  lair  before  next  day  noon,  and  his  breakfast 
probably  kept  him  till  night.  I  saw  nothing  of  him,  nor  was  he  heard 
of  by  any  one,  till  Monday  afternoon,  when  I  was  sent  for  home  to 
two  gentlemen  unknown.  In  conversation  I  made  a  slrango.  faux fias 
about  Burnaby  Greene's  poem,  in  which  Johnson  is  drawn  at  full 
length'.  He  drank  his  large  potations  of  tea  with  me,  interrupted 
by  many  an  indignant  contradiction,  and  many  a  noble  sentiment. 
He  had  on  a  better  wig  than  usual,  but,  one  whose  curls  were  not, 
like  Sir  Cloudesly's^  formed  for  'eternal  buckler'  Our  conversation 
was  chiefly  on  books,  you  may  be  sure.  He  was  much  pleased  with  a 
small  Milton  of  mine,  published  in  the  author's  lifetime,  and  with  the 
Greek  epigram  on  his  own  effigy,  of  its  being  the  picture,  not  of  him, 
but  of  a  bad  painter*.  There  are  many  manuscript  stanzas,  for  aught 
I  know,  in  Milton's  own  handwriting,  and  several  interlined  hints 
and  fragments.     We  were  puzzled  about  one  of  the  sonnets,  which 

•  Burnaby  Greene  had  just  published  The  Laiireat,  a  poem,  in  which  Johnson 
is  abused.     It  is  in  the  February  list  of  books  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  1765. 

"  Sir  Cloudesly  Shovel's  monument  is  thus  mentioned  by  Addison  in  The 
Spectator,  No.  26 : — '  It  has  very  often  given  me  great  offence ;  instead  of  the 
brave  rough  English  Admiral,  which  was  the  distinguishing  character  of  that 
plain  gallant  man,  he  is  represented  on  his  tomb  by  the  figure  of  a  beau,  dressed 
in  a  long  periwig,  and  reposing  himself  upon  velvet  cushions  under  a  canopy  of 
state.' 

^  'That  live-long  wig,  which  Gorgon's  self  might  own, 

Eternal  buckle  takes  in  Parian  stone.' 

Pope's  Moral  Essays,  iii.  295. 

*  Milton's  Epigram  is  in  his  Sylvarum  Liber,  and  is  entitled  In  Effigiei  ejus 
Sculptor  em. 

WC 


6oo  Appoidix  D. 

we  thought  was  not  to  be  found  in  Newton's  edition  ',  and  differed 
from  all  the  printed  ones.  Hut  Johnson  cried,  "  No,  no !"  repeated 
the  whole  sonnet  instantly,  mcmoriter,  and  shewed  it  us  in  Newton's 
book.  After  which  he  learnedly  harangued  on  sonnet-writing,  and 
its  different  numbers.  He  tells  me  he  will  come  hither  again  quickly, 
and  is  promised  "an  habitation  in  Emanuel  College"."  He  went  back 
to  town  next  morning;  but  as  it  began  to  be  known  that  he  was  in 
the  university,  several  persons  got  into  his  company  the  last  evening 
at  Trinity,  where,  about  twelve,  he  began  to  be  very  great ;  stripped 
poor  Mrs.  Macaulay  to  the  very  skin,  then  gave  her  for  his  toast,  and 
drank  her  in  two  bumpers.'     (Gent.  Mag.  for  1785,  p.  173.) 


APPENDIX    D. 

Johnson's  Letter  to  Dr.  Leland. 

{Page  566.) 

'To  THE  Rev.  Dr.  Leland. 
'Sir, 

'  Among  the  names  subscribed  to  the  degree  which  I  have  had 
the  honour  of  receiving  from  the  university  of  Dublin,  I  find  none  of 
which  I  have  any  personal  knowledge  but  those  of  Dr.  Andrews  and 
yourself. 

'  Men  can  be  estimated  by  those  who  know  them  not,  only  as  they 
are  represented  by  those  who  know  them ;  and  therefore  I  flatter 
myself  that  I  owe  much  of  the  pleasure  which  this  distinction  gives 
me  to  your  concurrence  with  Dr.  Andrews  in  recommending  me  to 
the  learned  society. 

'  Having  desired  the  Provost  to  return  my  general  thanks  to  the 
University,  I  beg  that  you,  sir,  will  accept  my  particular  and  imme- 
diate acknowledgements. 

'  I  am,  Sir, 
•  Your  most  obedient  and  most  humble  servant, 

'  Sam.  Johnson.' 
'Johnson's-court,  Fleet-street, 
London,  Oct.  17,  1765.' 

'  Johnson's  acquaintance,  Bishop  Newton  (/^j/,  June  3,  1784),  published  an 
(edition  of  Milton. 

'  It  was  no  doubt  by  the  Master  of  Emanuel  College,  his  friend  Dr.  Farmer 
(antt,  p.  426),  that  Johnson  was  promibcd  '  an  habitation '  there. 

APPENDIX 


App€7idix  E.  60 1 


APPENDIX    E. 

Johnson's  '  Engaging  in  Politicks  with  H- 

{Page  566.) 


In  a  little  volume  entitled  Parliamentary  Logick,  by  the  Right 
Hon.  W.  G.  Hamilton,  published  in  180S,  twelve  years  after  the 
author's  death,  is  included  ConsUcrations  on  Corn,  by  Dr.  Johnson 
{Works,  V.  321).  It  was  written,  says  Hamilton's  editor,  in  No- 
vember 1766.  A  dearth  had  caused  riots.  'Those  who  want  the 
supports  of  life.'  Johnson  wrote,  'will  seize  them  wherever  they 
can  be  found.'  {lb.  p.  322.)  He  supported  in  this  tract  the 
bount}-  for  exporting  com.  If  more  than  a  year  after  he  had  en- 
gaged in  politics  with  Mr.  Hamilton  nothing  had  been  produced 
but  this  short  tract,  the  engagement  was  not  of  much  importance. 
But  there  was.  I  suspect,  much  more  in  it.  Indeed,  the  editor 
says  {Preface,  p.  ix.)  that  *  Johnson  had  entered  into  some  engage- 
ment \rsxkv  Mr.  Hamilton,  occasionally  to  furnish  him  with  his  sen- 
timents on  the  great  political  topicks  that  should  be  considered  in 
Parliament.'  Mr.  Croker  draws  attention  to  a  passage  in  John- 
son's letter  to  Miss  Porter  of  Jan.  14.  1766  (Croker's  Boswell,  p. 
173).  in  which  he  says  :  '  I  cannot  well  come  [to  Lichfield]  during 
the  session  of  parliament."  In  the  spring  of  this  same  year  Burke 
had  broken  with  Hamilton,  in  whose  service  he  had  been.  '  The 
occasion  of  our  difference,'  he  wrote,  *  was  not  any  act  whatsoever 
on  my  part ;  it  was  entirely  upon  his,  by  a  voluntar}-  but  most  in- 
solent and  intolerable  demand,  amounting  to  no  less  than  a  claim 
of  servitude  during  the  whole  course  of  my  life,  without  leaving  to 
me  at  any  time  a  power  either  of  getting  forward  with  honour,  or 
of  retiring  with  tranquillity'  (Burke's  Corres.  i.  77).  It  seems  to 
me  highly  probable  that  Hamilton,  in  consequence  of  his  ha\-ing 
just  lost,  as  I  have  shewn,  Burke's  senices,  sought  Johnson's  aid. 
He  had  taken  Burke  '  as  a  companion  in  his  studies.'  {Ih.  p.  4S. ) 
*  Six  of  the  best  years  of  my  life,'  wrote  Burke,  '  he  took  me  from 
every  pursuit  of  literar)-  reputation  or  of  improvement  of  my  fort- 
une. In  that  time  he  made  his  own  fortune  (a  verv  great  one.)' 
{lb.  p.  67.)  Burke  had  been  recommended  to  Hamilton  bv  Dr. 
Warton.     On   losing  him   Hamilton,  on   Feb.  12,  1765.  wrote  to 

•'m^ 


A-?. 


6o2  Appendix  E. 

Warton,  giving  a  false  account  of  his  separation  with  Burke,  and 
asking  him  to  recommend  some  one  to  fill  his  place — some  one 
'who,  in  addition  to  a  taste  and  an  understanding  of  ancient 
authors,  and  what  generally  passes  under  the  name  of  scholarship, 
has  likewise  a  share  of  modern  knowledge,  and  has  applied  him- 
self in  some  degree  to  the  study  of  the  law.'  By  way  of  payment 
he  offers  at  once  '  an  income,  which  would  neither  be  insufficient 
for  him  as  a  man  of  letters,  or  disreputable  to  him  as  a  gentleman,' 
and  hereafter  '  a  situation  ' — a  post,  that  is  to  say,  under  govern- 
ment. (Wooll's  IVarton,  i.  299.)  Warton  recommended  Cham- 
bers. Chambers  does  not  seem  to  have  accepted  the  post,  for  we 
find  him  staying  on  at  Oxford  {post,  ii.  28,  52;.  Johnson  had  all 
the  knowledge  that  Hamilton  required,  except  that  of  law.  It  is 
this  very  study  that  we  find  him  at  this  very  time  entering  upon. 
All  this  shows  that  for  some  time  and  to  some  extent  an  engage- 
ment was  formed  between  him  and  Hamilton.  Boswell,  writing  to 
Malone  on  Feb.  25,  1791,  while  The  Life  of  yohnson  was  going 
through  the  press,  says  : — 

'  I  shall  have  more  cancels.  That  ncr^'ous  mortal  W.  G.  H.  is  not 
satisfied  with  my  report  of  some  particular.s  7uhich  I  lurote  dcni'ii  from 
/us  (nvn  //lou/Zi,  and  is  so  much  at^itated  that  Courtenay  has  persuaded 
me  to  allow  a  «e"rt'  edition  of  them  by  H.  himself  to  be  made  at  H.'s 
expense.' 

(Croker's  Boswell,  p.  829).  This  would  seem  to  show  that  there 
was  something  that  Hamilton  wished  to  conceal.  Horace  Walpole 
{Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of  George  ///,  iii.  402)  does  not  give  him  a 
character  for  truthfulness.  He  writes  on  one  occasion  : — '  Hamil- 
ton denied  it,  but  his  truth  was  not  renowned.'  Miss  Burney,  who 
met  Hamilton  fourteen  years  after  this,  thus  describes  him  : — '  This 
Mr.  Hamilton  is  extremely  tall  and  handsome  ;  has  an  air  of 
haughty  and  fashionable  superiority;  is  intelligent,  dry,  sarcastic, 
and  clever.  I  should  have  received  much  pleasure  from  his  con- 
versational powers,  had  I  not  previously  been  jjrejudiced  against 
him,  by  hearing  that  he  is  infinitely  artful,  double,  and  crafty." 
\Mme.  D'Arblafs  Diary,  i.  293.) 


APPKXDIX 


Appendix  F.  603 


APPENDIX    F. 

Johnson's  First  Acquaintance  with  the   Thrales 
AND  HIS  Serious  Illness. 

{Page  567.) 

Johnson  {Pr.  and  Med.  p.  191)  writes  :— '  My  first  knowledge  of 
Thrale  was  in  1765.'  \\\  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  he  says  : — '  You 
were  but  five-and-twenty  when  I  knew  you  first."  [Piozzi  Letters., 
i.  284.)  As  she  was  born  on  Jan.  H,  1741,  this  would  place  their 
introduction  in  1766.  In  another  letter,  written  on  July  8,  1784, 
he  talks  of  her  '  kindness  which  soothed  twenty  years  of  a  life 
radically  wretched.'  {lb.  ii.  376.)  Perhaps,  however,  he  here  spoke 
in  round  numbers.  Mrs.  Piozzi  {Anec.  p.  125)  says  they  first  met 
in  1764.  Mr.  Thrale,  she  writes,  sought  an  excuse  for  inviting 
him.  'The  celebrity  of  Mr.  Woodhouse  {post,  ii.  146),  a  shoe- 
maker, whose  verses  were  at  that  time  the  subject  of  common  dis- 
course, soon  afforded  a  "  pretence."  '  There  is  a  notice  of  Wood- 
house  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  June  1764  (p.  289).  Johnson,  she 
says,  dined  with  them  every  Thursday  through  the  winter  of 
1764-5,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1765  followed  them  to  Brighton.  In 
the  Piozzi  Letters  (i.  i)  there  is  a  letter  of  his,  dated  Aug.  13,  1765, 
in  which  he  speaks  of  his  intention  to  join  them  there. 

'  From  that  time,'  she  writes,  'his  visits  grew  more  frequent  till,  in 
the  year  1766,  his  health,  which  he  had  always  complained  of,  grew  so 
exceedingly  bad,  that  he  could  not  stir  out  of  his  room  in  the  court 
he  inhabited  for  many  weeks  together,  I  think  months.  Mr.  Thrale's 
attentions  and  my  own  now  became  so  acceptable  to  him,  that  he 
often  lamented  to  us  the  horrible  condition  of  his  mind,  which,  he 
said,  was  nearly  distracted:  and  though  he  charged  ^^s  to  make  him 
odd  solemn  promises  of  secrecy  on  so  strange  a  subject,  yet  when  we 
waited  on  him  one  morning,  and  heard  him,  in  the  most  pathetic 
terms,  beg  the  prayers  of  Dr.  Delap  [the  Rector  of  Lewes]  who  had 
left  him  as  we  came  in,  I  felt  excessively  affected  with  grief,  and  well 
remember  my  husband  involuntarily  lifted  up  one  hand  to  shut  his 
mouth,  from  provocation  at  hearing  a  man  so  widely  proclaim  what 
he  could  at  last  persuade  no  one  to  believe;  and  what,  if  true,  would 
have  been  so  unfit  to  reveal.  Mr.  Thrale  went  away  soon  after,  leav- 
ing me  with  him,  and  bidding  me  prevail  on  him  to  quit  his  close 
habitation   in  the  court,  and  come  with   us  to   Streatham,  where   I 

undertook 


6o4  Appendix  F. 

undertook  the  care  of  his  health,  and  had  the  honour  and  happiness 
of  contributing  to  its  restoration.' 

It  is  not  possible  to  reconcile  the  contradiction  in  dates  between 
Johnson  and  Mrs.  Piozzi,  nor  is  it  easy  to  fi.x  the  time  of  this  ill- 
ness.    That  before  February  1766,  he  had  had  an  illness  so  seri- 
ous as  to  lead  him  altogether  to  abstain  from  wine  is  beyond  a 
doubt.     Boswell,  on  his  return  to  England  in  ihat  month,  heard  it 
from  his  owm  lips  {post,  W.  9).      That  this  illness  must  have  at- 
tacked him  after  March   i.  1765,  when  he  visited  Cambridge,  is 
also  clear:  for  at  that  time  he  wa.s  still  drinking  wine  uvite.  Ap- 
pendix Q).    That  he  was  unusually  depressed  in  the  spring  of  this 
year  is  shewn  by  his  entry  at  Easter  KanU.  p.  5641.      From  his  visit 
to  Dr.  Percy  in  the  summer  of  1764  uinU,  p.  56:1 1  to  the  autumn  of 
1765.  we  have  ver)-  little  information  about  him.      For  more  than 
two  years  he  did   not   write  to    Hoswell  {post,  ii.  1 1.     Dr.  Adams 
{ante,  p.  559)  describes  the  same  kind  of  attack  as  Mrs.  Piozzi. 
Its  date  is  not  given.     Boswell,  after  quoting  an  entry  made  on 
Johnson's  birthday,  Sept.  18,  1764,  says  'about  this  time  he  was 
afflicted  '  with  the  illness  Dr.  Adams  describes.     From  Mrs.  Piozzi, 
from  Johnson's  account  to  Boswell,  and  from  Dr.  Adams  we  learn 
of  a  serious  illness.    Was  there  more  than  one  ?    If  there  was  only 
one,  then    Boswell  is  wrong  in  placing  it  before  March  1,  1765, 
when  Johnson  was  still  a  wine-drinker,  and  Mrs.  Piozzi  is  wrong 
in  placing  it  after  Februar)^  1766,  when  he  had  become  an  ab- 
stainer.    Johnson  certainly  stayed  at  Streatham  from  before  Mid- 
summer to  October  in  1766  {post,  ii.  28,  and  Pr.  and  Med.  p.  71), 
and  this  fact  lends  support  to  Mrs.  Piozzi's  statement.     But,  on 
the  other  hand,  his  meetings  with  Boswell  in  February  of  that  year, 
and  his  letters  to  Langton  of  March  9  and  May  10  {post,  ii.  18,  19  >. 
shew  a  not  unhappy  frame  of  mind.     Boswell.  in  his  Hebrides  (Oct 
16.  i773\  speaks  of  Johnson's  illness  in  1766.     If  it  was  in   1766 
that  he  was  ill,  it  must  have  been  after  May  10  and  before  Mid- 
summer-day, and  this  period  is  almost  too  brief  for  Mrs.  Piozzi's 
account.     It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  Cowper  was  introduced 
to  the  Unwins  in  the  same  year  in  which  Johnson,  according  to  his 
own  account,  had  his  first  knowledge  of  the  Thrales.     (Southey's 
Cowper,  i,  171.) 

THE    END    OF    THE    FIRST   VOLUME. 


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